Traditional service finds new approach through Idaho-based company

Share the cost, not the bugs. That was the initial tagline focus for Pest Share, now considered the nation’s first on-demand pest control platform.

With $28 million in Series A capital funding to help support its mission of battling bugs, the Boise-based startup is now available to property managers overseeing residential complexes in 48 states.

“Fundamentally, we can go into a property with large number of residents and leverage volume to make pest control cheaper,” said CEO and co-founder Landon Cooley.

Cooley simply compares the online platform for pests to how Uber or DoorDash provide transportation and food delivery services. In fact, Cooley noted pest control is considered a “top five reason” why residents move out of a dwelling.

“In the same way you can order food online through a technology platform, or even schedule a ride, that is what Pest Share is,” he said. “We’re able to provide a lot of value in how we better handle pest control issues for property managers and how we create a better experience for their residents.”

Customers consistently highlight the platform’s ability to shorten service response times, standardize workflows across portfolios and deliver measurable time and cost savings, all while improving the residential experience.

For Cooley, and his co-founders, brothers Justin and Tom Clements, venturing into a tech venture is unlike anything any of them had experienced throughout their lengthy careers in the pest industry.

As a fourth-generation pest control expert, Cooley’s family origins in the business originated with his great-grandfather, who began doing pest control in 1927 after arriving in America from Ireland.

As for the Clements brothers, they built their own business after learning the ropes selling pest control services door-to-door while students at Washington State University.

Sharing decades of pest control experience, their Mormon faith and a common entrepreneurial spirit, the trio’s brotherly bond is driving the new business forward.

“Well, they are actual brothers, but they’ve let me into their brotherly fold,” Cooley said with a laugh.

Even without the official biological connection, Justin, the chief operating officer, in no way downplays the serendipity that helped the three pest professionals partner up.

“Serendipitous is a great way of explaining that. All of us being of the same faith we like to believe that everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I get emotional talking about this, but we truly believe what we are doing was meant to be.”

“It’s typical in our industry to get offer letters from people wanting to purchase your business. We eventually met with Landon, we hit it off and aligned well in terms of business philosophy and core values and our LDS faith.”

As owners of competing pest control outfits, and in order for them to collectively share the operational obligations of Pest Share, the Clements brothers made the decision to merge their longtime Envi operation with Cooley’s Pestcom Pest Management.

“Landon was a little hesitant at first, but like the true salesmen that we are, Tom just said, ‘let’s go for it,’ and we put our heads together to develop a market strategy to deliver the product,” Justin said. “Tom was definitely the most gung-ho about getting it going.”

“I’m usually the pusher, while Justin is the more methodical, think-it-through guy,” said Tom, the chief revenue officer. “I usually run on my gut, and rarely is my gut wrong. Sometimes you just know. If the risk doesn’t outweigh the potential benefit, then just go for it.”

As a first-of-a-kind business model for the industry, Cooley knew he was moving into uncharted territory. “We had to invent a new business model no one had ever done before. I lost some sleep worrying about something that could arise to challenge this model. But we relish this opportunity and take a lot of pride in it and making it work.”

The next critical step was for the three to venture into the world of venture capital to find the financing to make it fly.

“We saw the need because we knew the company we merged into could not sustain that type of expansion effort,” Justin said. “We had heard what I call ‘the horror stories’ of venture capitalists and we were skeptical at first. But we are fortunate they turned out to be what we call our ‘flavor’ of people.”

For these three, “flavor” translates to authentic, honest folks who share their life values.

“We all hold fast to the concept of truth behind integrity,” Tom said. “By that standard, we want everyone, co-workers, employees in the organization to emulate how we behave.”

“Justin and I grew up very poor. But our dad had always told us to figure out a way to make money work for you. Sure, we were skeptical, but knew we had to take the risk to make the business grow. But they’re taking the same risk with you.”

“Where we have weaknesses, we are exceptional at doing this and finding those flavors and aligning them toward one unified goal,” Cooley said. “It’s definitely been a key to success in what we have done with Pest Share. It all starts there.”

Combining their solid business acumen with their faith-filled lives, Pest Share has found its fill of “flavors” so to speak. Led by Integrity Growth Partners (IGP) the startup has raised $28 million in Series A funding to help propel the business forward.

The combination of honesty, transparency and the personal values exhibited by the three “brothers” made the decision for IGP to invest in them a solid business decision.

“For us, Pest Share is more than pest control. It’s about taking an everyday pain point that nobody wanted to touch and turning it into a scalable, resident-friendly and manager-friendly solution,” said Managing Partner Doyl Burkett, whose firm is based in Southern California.

“That creates lasting value, and we believe Pest Share is positioned to define the category for years to come.”

Local investments from Capital Eleven, as well as funds from MetaProp and RE Angels are expected to accelerate the reach of Pest Share’s expansion far and wide throughout the rental market.

“Pest Share solves this problem efficiently, with a sound business model that has resulted in visible recurring revenue, strong unit economics, and a sticky retention profile,” Burkett said. “That combination creates a highly attractive opportunity for growth investors like us.”

Since launching in 2020, Pest Share has become a trusted partner to more than 700 property management companies nationwide.

“What we have developed and come to the market with is a solution built for their industry that seamlessly integrates with their existing technologies, but we can also pencil it out the return on investment and demonstrate the positive financial impact we can have on their business,” Cooley said.

The trio understand how pest control is not looked upon as the “traditional” or “sexy” Silicon Valley type of investment. Even so, Cooley knows the business does have its advantages.

Investors, he said, are not just looking for the “latest or hottest thing,” but opportunities to solve problems. “When you think of home services, there is a lack of innovation. And if anyone can crack the code on how to use technology to unlock a greater opportunity in that area there could be something massive. Up to 84% of all U.S. households have a pest control issue each year.”

“Pest Share leaned into a problem nobody in the industry really wanted to solve,” Burkett said. “Traditional pest companies have avoided the complexity of who’s responsible in rental housing, and property managers never had a scalable solution. Pest Share embraced that challenge and built a process that residents and managers actually like.”

A commitment to professionalism, hard work and dedication is enhanced by what Justin refers to as one of their non-negotiable core values: True grit.

“All of us have had to hold on tightly to that value because it is what has gotten us through the painful times like when we had to change and become better for the business,” he said. “That growth push, as painful as it is, has become a comfortable mindset now.”

In similar fashion, none of the three ever envisioned their humble beginnings would lead to overseeing a multimillion-dollar startup.

“It takes a lot of effort to find the right investor and the one who will give you the most credit for seeing the value in your business,” Cooley said. “We’re fortunate to have found investors who are the right flavor and drink the Kool Aid and get in and are fully on board with us.”

And with two decades of pest industry experience to their credit, Justin said what he has learned the most is that all three can be pushed in ways never imagined.

“I never would have thought I would have raised venture capital money to go help run a tech startup,” Justin said. “Had you asked me five or even 10 years ago, I never thought this would be the case. It’s been an awesome experience.”