Coast, a New York fintech company that provides payment cards and spending software for trade businesses, has raised $35 million in growth equity funding.
The round, which closed in October, was led by Thomvest Ventures and will support the development of tools for managing employee spending, paying vendors and automating accounting work.
Coast was founded in 2020 by Daniel Simon, its chief executive and a former Wall Street engineer. The company’s platform is designed for businesses such as plumbing, construction, heating and air-conditioning firms, where employees regularly use company cards to buy fuel and supplies while working away from the office.
Workers can check in by text message or through an app when they take a company card. The system links the card to their identity and the spending limits set by their employer.
Coast can also use vehicle location data to check whether a company van is at the filling station where the card is being used. If the locations do not match, the transaction can be blocked. Details of approved purchases are then sent to the company’s accounting system, reducing the need for manual receipt checking and data entry.
“If you run a plumbing business or an HVAC… and you need to give the technician who works for you the company credit card when they take the van out to go to their job… you need really specialized control, security, visibility, [and] reporting,” Simon said.
Coast targets growing demand for skilled trades
The company is positioning its services at a time when demand for skilled trade workers is rising. A March report by staffing company Randstad USA found that openings for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning technicians had increased by 78%, while wider trade job postings were up 30%.
The report also found that 102 workers were leaving the trades for every 100 entering them. Coast estimates the market for its payment tools at $120 billion.
“You are taking time that might have otherwise been spent [on] back office work and giving that back to the people in the trades to work on what they are really focused on,” said Don Butler, a managing director at Thomvest Ventures.
Simon identified the opportunity during the pandemic, after selling his previous payments company, Bread, for $500 million in 2020. His career began developing trading software for investment banks and hedge funds before he completed law and business degrees at Yale University.
The latest investment follows Coast’s $40 million Series B and an earlier $92 million funding round. Intuit Ventures and Small World Capital joined the latest round as new investors, alongside returning backers including ICONIQ Growth, Accel, Insight Partners, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Avid Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, Synchrony, RXR and The Fintech Fund.
Coast has about 135 employees across offices in New York and Utah, and serves thousands of businesses, including Tristate Plumbing, Texas Solar Outfitters and Verde Property Services. The company has not disclosed its latest valuation and is not yet profitable, with revenue being reinvested in product development and customer growth.
