HomeLight Raises $11M in Series A Funding to Expand Marketplace for Finding Real Estate Professionals
Data-driven platform for finding the best real estate agents online grows to over $800M in home listings
SAN FRANCISCO, April 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeLight (http://www.homelight.com), the world's premier marketplace for finding real estate professionals, today announced it has raised $11MM in Series A funding. The new capital, led by Zeev Ventures, and joined by Dovi Frances of SGVC, will give HomeLight the ability to enhance its data-driven product offering as the smartest new way to find a real estate agent. It brings the company's total funding since inception to $15 million.
The Series A financing builds on an exceptional year for HomeLight, which has seen a rapid shift in how consumers think about real estate. The company has grown over 400% year over year* while appointing key executives, including Chief Analytics Officer Tom Tang (former VP of Analytics at TrueCar) and COO Sumant Sridharan (former President of CafePress).
"This past year served as further validation of our core thesis -- that we have developed a smarter way to find a real estate agent," said Drew Uher CEO and Founder of HomeLight. "Home transactions are the biggest financial decisions of most people's lives, and our mission is to help those individuals find a trusted strategic advisor who can help guide them through the process. Our data-driven approach has already helped hundreds of individuals sell their home faster and for more money."
Americans transact $1 trillion of residential real estate each year, yet only 10% of buyers find an agent online. HomeLight helps consumers find the agent best suited to their needs, by analyzing millions of residential home transactions across over two million agents and 200,000 brokerages nationally. Utilizing advanced data algorithms and machine learning techniques, the company evaluates dozens of variables to match home seller and buyers with the agent that best suits their needs. These variables include local neighborhood home sales, expertise in price range, time to sell, likelihood to close, and responsiveness.
"Consumers are already using data to make decisions about their health and many other daily activities, yet when it comes to buying or selling a home, one of the largest transactions of their lives, they are completely blind. They use antiquated methods of finding an agent like referrals from unqualified individuals," said Oren Zeev of Zeev Ventures, who also was appointed to HomeLight's board of directors. "HomeLight has created a new way for consumers to put the home transaction into the hands of the person that is most certified to support their needs, and this is an incredible innovation. I anticipate that within two to three years, people will use data to buy or sell their home - turning one of the most stressful times of their lives into one of the easiest, with new layers of trust and transparency."
"The addition of Sumant and Tom will provide HomeLight the strategic guidance it needs to broaden and accelerate product development, while expanding efforts to reach homebuyers and sellers in markets across the country," said Uher. "We're also thrilled that Oren Zeev has joined our board of directors. He has made great contributions to previous early investments such as Houzz, and we believe he will be incredibly valuable to HomeLight as we scale into the future."
In addition to Zeev Ventures and SGVC, other participants in the round include Bullpen Capital, Montage Ventures, Krillion Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Oren Dobronsky, and Yariv Davidovich.
* HomeLight end Q1
About HomeLight
HomeLight is the new, smarter way to find a real estate agent online. Its proprietary algorithm analyzes millions of transactions and reviews to determine which agents are best for you based on their actual past performance. These unbiased agent recommendations have helped thousands of buyers and sellers achieve quantifiably better outcomes from their home transactions. HomeLight was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco. It currently operates in 38 major U.S. markets and is a privately held company, financially backed by Google Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Bullpen Capital, Montage Ventures, Krillion Ventures, 500 Startups, and others. To learn more visit http://www.homelight.com.
About Zeev Ventures
Zeev Ventures is the investment arm of Oren Zeev, who has been the main early backer of market leaders such as Audible, Houzz, Chegg, Tipalti and Younow.
Media contact:
Danielle Simmons
415-812-5128
SOURCE HomeLight
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