In brief: Thumbtack raises US$150 million for its local services marketplace

Thumbtack just closed a new funding round of US$150 million.
Sequoia is leading the round, and the company is now valued at US$1.7 billion.
Thumbtack started as a simple marketplace for local professionals.
Clients could post a message saying that they were looking for carpenters, wedding planners or house cleaning services.
Professionals then scrolled through listings and sent quotes.
Customers eventually picked a professional.
While it was a huge hit, it didn't scale well and created a ton of issues.
The startup rewrote the back end, created a new front end, pivoted to a new business model and essentially created a new product.
Thumbtack now automatically generates quotes based on your needs and your location.
Given that you can get quotes in a few minutes, it didn't make sense to charge professionals every time they send a quote.
Now, professionals pay Thumbtack a small fee when customers contact them after a quote.
Now growth has re-accelerated dramatically, and we have the runway to make Thumbtack the only platform they need to find the right customers.
With today's new funding round, the company can now focus on attracting service providers again.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this could be the last funding round before Thumbtack files to go public.