Aviva Ventures raises over £4m for on-demand inspections startup app

Shepper, a startup carrying out on-demand inspections of assets globally using a network of crowd sourced people, has raised $5.4m (around £4.2m).

Founded by Ben Prouty, Carl August Ameln and Jan Vanhoutte, serial entrepreneurs behind Streetcar and LOVESPACE, the company has received backing from Aviva Ventures, Idekapital Fund 1, and angel investors.

Funds raised will support the company’s product development and growth globally.

Shepper is an on-demand inspection and basic task service that connects customers to things they value. Shepper ‘leverages’ its network of background-checked individuals to help businesses gather and validate information, as well as inspect property and assets.

Ben Prouty, CEO and co-founder, said: “We founded Shepper on the belief that security and maintenance companies have had it too good for too long; they demand expensive, lengthy contracts to conduct very basic checks that in reality require no prior experience and can be completed on an ad hoc basic.

“Our global network of Shepherds can respond to local jobs quicker, reducing travel time and costs for the client - who then get access to digital reporting – not an archaic paper report.

“This funding round will enable us to further develop our technology to build the next generation of our product and deliver quality inspections in all corners of the globe.”

The company is working with the likes of L’Oreal, JCDecaux, Hostmaker and JustPark and has completed inspections as far away as New York and Sydney.

The investment from Aviva Ventures comes as Shepper is running an ongoing insurance use-case pilot with Aviva who also back the the Founders Factory fintech accelerator programme, of which Shepper is a graduate.

Ben Luckett, managing director at Aviva Ventures, added: “Platform companies are leading the digital transformation of products, services, and business.

“As a corporate venture fund we want to invest in startups with high growth potential and Shepper have created a highly scalable business with relevance across multiple industries.

“Along with their strong leadership team, this makes Shepper an exciting opportunity for us and we are very much looking forward to working with them.”

The funding coincides with Shepper’s app platform relaunch this autumn which makes it even easier for brands to post jobs and for Shepherds to respond to them.

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