In the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley, where billions are flocking to chatbots and generative arts, Apoorva Shrivastava and Tyson Chen decided to look to the places few tech founders go: the local HVAC company.
This decision has officially paid off. Their startup Avoca has reached $1 billion after a $125 million funding round led by Meritech Capital and General Catalyst, with participation from Kleiner Perkins.This hypothesis is rooted in a lesson Shrivastava learned while growing up in Michigan. As a first-generation Indian American, he spent years helping his family manage their company’s phone calls.
He realized the harsh reality of the trades: In industries like plumbing, roofing and electrical work, a missed call is not just a minor inconvenience but a lost decade.
From Michigan to MIT
Shrivastava is an MIT graduate who initially experimented with building AI answering services for restaurants. While a missed reservation could cost a restaurant $40, Shrivastava and Chen soon discovered that a missed call for an HVAC emergency could cost a contractor upwards of $40,000.
“When a restaurant misses a phone call, that’s a $40 order,” Chen told Fortune.“When a home service company misses a call, that could be a $40,000 HVAC installation,” he added.
Blue collar hat plug
Unlike many AI companies that aim to automate office work, Avoca focuses on the “key figures” of the physical economy: technicians. The startup’s AI agents are designed to look like humans, answer calls within seconds, and handle complex schedules 24/7.What sets Avoca apart from others is its deep integration with industry-specific software. AI doesn’t just receive a message; It checks calendars in real time, books appointments directly into the company system, and proactively tracks old estimates that were never signed off on.
Trillion collar opportunity
The market response has been explosive. Avoca now serves more than 800 customers, including national brands like 1-800-GOT-JUNK? And Gotel Air Conditioning.
In 2025, the company surpassed eight figures in annual recurring revenue and is currently on track to book nearly $1 billion in jobs for its clients this year.Investors are betting that “vertical AI,” technology tailored to specific industries, is the next frontier. While Silicon Valley seeks general-purpose intelligence, Shrivastava and Chen have found their fortune in the hum of the air conditioner and the ring of the plumber’s phone, which ensures that no call goes unanswered in the trillion-dollar home services economy.
