Martha Stewart's AI startup Hint raises $10M to predict home repairs before they happen

Martha Stewart's new AI startup: A good thing?

Martha Stewart just launched a new startup called Hint -- an "always-on, AI-native home management platform" set to launch this summer. The venture was born out of a conversation Stewart had with Kyle Rush, her neighbor and an AI engineer. The two developed the idea to create software that can help identify and solve pesky home repairs and reduce expenses. After Stewart partnered with Rush and home-services executive Yih-Han Ma, Hint was born. "The first thing you do is give us your address," Ma explained to Fortune. Then, Hint pulls publicly available data on the property. Users can upload further information, like inspection reports and insurance policies, to give Hint a more holistic picture of the property so it can keep a record of the home's history and needs. The company raised $10 million in seed funding. There are other VC startups in the space, like Honey Homes and Birdwatch, but they rely on human labor. Fortune reports that Hint will use artificial intelligence to sidestep that cost and connect people with products and services -- from which it can earn an affiliate commission.

Martha Stewart Wants AI to Run Your Home | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. Hint is an AI-powered home management platform that monitors properties for maintenance needs, expiring insurance policies, high utility bills and repair risks before they become emergencies. Stewart co-founded the company, which raised $10 million in seed funding led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Montauk Capital, Tusk Venture Partners, Amplo, Energy Impact Partners, Hannah Grey and Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy. Hint launches on desktop and iOS this summer. The setup is disarmingly simple. "The first thing you do is give us your address," co-founder and home-services veteran Yih-Han Ma told Fortune. "That's it." From there, Hint then draws on public data covering the property, local weather, soil, air quality and listings. Users can also upload inspection reports, warranties, bills and insurance policies. The home is most Americans' largest financial asset. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies projected annual homeowner spending on improvements and maintenance would reach $522 billion by the end of 2026. Most of that spending is reactive. A pipe bursts. An HVAC system fails. A roof inspection gets skipped until the next buyer's agent orders one. Hint's pitch is that the more valuable position isn't connecting homeowners to contractors after something breaks. It's getting to them before they ever need to search. Platforms like Angi and Thumbtack have built large businesses on the former. Hint is betting on the latter. Stewart told Fortune she'd wanted to build something like this for years. "The technology wasn't ready for my vision. Hint is," she said. Her fingerprints are throughout the product, from the name to the app's visual language to guides she wrote that the system pulls from directly. The venture has a structural tension its own lead investor flagged before writing the check. When Hint connects homeowners to products or services, it may earn affiliate or transaction fees. That's a setup that has undermined the independence of consumer recommendation platforms before. Kevin Colleran, co-founder and managing director at Slow Ventures, told Fortune he pushed hard on this point. "Once your bottom line depends on referral fees and take-rates, it becomes very hard to resist nudging people toward whoever pays you the most," Colleran said. Hint's stated position is that its recommendations are blind to commercial arrangements. Colleran said that principle was a condition of his investment. Hint isn't alone in the space. Honey Homes raised a $9.25 million Series A-1 in 2024 for a membership model built around dedicated handypeople, while Birdwatch raised $3.2 million in seed funding for an autopilot approach to home care that same year. Both rely on human labor. Hint's argument is that AI removes the cost structure that has kept concierge-style home services from scaling. The category Hint is entering reflects a shift in how investors are thinking about consumer AI. Content generation and conversational interfaces have attracted most of the attention. Hint's investors are backing a different model: AI that manages ongoing financial and operational complexity on the homeowner's behalf rather than answering questions when asked. Hint's summer launch will test that thesis against a market that has frustrated well-funded competitors. The company hasn't disclosed pricing.