Technology giants back TechCrunch Disrupt SF Startup: Breeze

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Breeze, the first company to leverage the power of the smartphone to automate the $120 billion onsite service provider market, today announced its founders will take the premier startup stage this afternoon during the TechCrunch Battlefield in search of the coveted Disrupt Cup.

Breeze is backed by leading technology luminaries, Marc Benioff, Max Levchin, James Murdoch, David Sacks, Jeff Skoll & Peter Thiel, and foremost institutional investors like Allen & Company, Charles River Ventures, Harmony Partners and XSeed Capital. 

"We've all lost plenty of hours we'll never get back waiting for the plumber, the electrician or, the a/c repairman. There are more than five million onsite service providers in the US still doing business the way they did in the '80's, making customers wait long hours for service," said Matthew Cowan, chief executive officer, and co-founder, Breeze Works. "These service providers use smartphones every day, but they've had no tools, no applications on their phones taking the pain out of providing quality, on-time service for customers. Breeze brings technology into the business model, eliminating customer no shows, converting receivables into cash faster, and keeping customers happy."

"The onsite service provider market has long been overlooked by the technology industry and is screaming for disruption," said David Sacks, Yammer founder, and 2008 TechCrunch50 winner.

Cowan is a long time technology veteran leading investments that sold to Cisco and eBay among others, and driving Intel's internet, media, and international investment activities in the '90's including CNET (sold to CBS), Geocities and Launch Media (both sold to Yahoo!), and iVillage (sold to NBC).  Breeze chief technology officer and co-founder, Adam Block lead the technology and product team that delivered International Data Group's (IDG) first major cross-publication web presence. Block went on to be the founding chief technology officer of Sequoia Cap-backed Harmonic Communications, a marketing automation software company later sold to Dentsu, Inc.

Breeze software connects onsite service providers to the repair site, and to the customer. The solution captures repeat business using an automated follow-up system, helps make more money faster by taking payments from the field, and prevents customer no shows by automatically communicating arrival times so customers are free to go about their day knowing they only need to return home when the repairman arrives.

Breeze is launching now in closed beta. To sign up, please visit www.breezeworks.com.

About Breeze
Breeze is the first company to leverage the power of the smartphone to automate the $120 billion onsite service provider market.  The Breeze application helps eliminate no shows, capture repeat business through automated follow-ups, and converts receivables into cash faster by taking payments from the field.

About TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013
TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013 (http://techcrunch.com/events/disrupt-sf-2013/the-battlefield/) is TechCrunch's seventh annual conference in San Francisco. The format combines top thought-leader discussions with new product and company launches. During morning executive discussions, technology-driven disruptions in many industries will be debated. Afternoons are reserved for the Startup Battlefield, where 30 new companies will launch for the first time on stage, selected to present from more than 1,000 applications received from around the world. The winning company will receive a $50,000 grand prize and the Disrupt Cup at the conclusion of the conference. The conference is Sept. 9-11, 2013, at The Concourse at San Francisco Design Center located at 635 8th St. (at Brannan) in San Francisco's downtown SOMA district.

Media Contact:
Tanya Bittner-Blackburn
RTJ Consultants |702.348.8379
[email protected]

SOURCE Breeze