Service 1st Financial

Service 1st Financial, which rebranded to Comfort Connect in January 2024, operates as a financial technology and training firm focused on the residential home services sector. The company was founded in 2019 by Anuj Khanna, who currently serves as CEO. Khanna's background in private equity, particularly his experience with a large home services company, revealed a market gap for accessible and sustainable home comfort solutions, inspiring the creation of the company. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, the firm was established to shift the home comfort industry from a traditional product-sales model to a subscription-like service.

The core of Comfort Connect's business is the Premier Program®, a "Home Comfort-as-a-Service" leasing model. This program targets homeowners and is delivered through a network of authorized HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors. Instead of a large upfront purchase, homeowners make a predictable monthly payment. This payment bundles the cost of a new, high-efficiency home comfort system—such as HVAC units, water heaters, generators, or water filtration systems—with installation, ongoing maintenance, consumables like filters, and all covered repairs, including parts and labor. This all-inclusive, lease-based service model is typically set for an eight or ten-year term, after which customers can upgrade to a new system or exercise a purchase option. The program is designed to remove the financial barrier of high upfront costs and the complexities of ownership, thereby encouraging the adoption of more energy-efficient systems like heat pumps, which constitute a significant portion of the company's portfolio.

Comfort Connect generates revenue by collecting these monthly lease payments from homeowners. For their contractor partners, the company provides a point-of-sale financing platform that streamlines sales, increases average ticket sizes, and builds long-term customer relationships, fostering a source of recurring revenue for the contractors. The contractor installs the system and remains the homeowner's point of contact for service, while Comfort Connect handles billing and retains ownership of the equipment. The company has secured significant funding to support its growth, including a Series B round and a debt facility totaling over $20 million, aimed at geographic expansion, product development, and enhancing its technology-based tools for contractors and homeowners.

Keywords: home comfort as a service, HVAC leasing, residential services financing, subscription-based home systems, contractor financing platform, home comfort subscription, predictable monthly payments, all-inclusive HVAC service, energy-efficient upgrades, heat pump leasing, water heater financing, generator leasing, home electrification, fintech, residential decarbonization, contractor sales tools, recurring revenue model, asset finance, home improvement financing, sustainable home solutions