Funding Fridays—Houwzer raises $118 million Series B

End-to-end real estate brokerage Houwzer has raised a $118 million Series B round that includes a $100 million warehouse line of credit to fund the launch of their new cash-offer and buy-before-you-sell services.

The Philadelphia-based real estate tech company charges sellers a flat $5,000 listing fee paid at closing—plus an additional 2.5% commission paid to the buyer’s agent. They are completely changing the way people sell their homes. 

This innovative and emerging business model known as Power Buying allows homebuyers to compete with institutional buyers via cash-backed offers and buy-before-you-sell services—effectively turning homebuyers into iBuyers. You can learn more about power buyers, cash-backed offers, and buy-before-you-sell-services here.

In addition to real estate brokerage services, Houwzer and its subsidiaries, Houwzer Mortgage and Houwzer Title, allow the company to provide its clients with end-to-end service.

Since its launch in 2015, Houwzer has helped buyers and sellers save million of dollars in fees and facilitated the transaction of over 4,000 homes with a combined sales total of nearly $2 billion in 6 metros including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Tampa.

With this latest round of funding led by Edison Partners, Houwzer's total equity funding raised to date now sits at $35 million in addition to its $100 million in debt financing.

Early stage venture capital firm Edison Partners also led Houwzer's $9.5 million Series A funding round back in February 2020.

CEO Take: In the midst of one of the most difficult housing climates in U.S. history with skyrocketing price appreciation and climbing interest rates exacerbated by already entrenched affordability issues and supply constraints, Houwzer's end-to-end platform and new consumer products are helping arm buyers and sellers with the necessary tools to compete in the ultra-competitive housing market.

Flat-fee commissions empower sellers to maximize their profits while also giving them the confidence to shop for their next home (even before their current home has sold) as a result of their innovative cash-backed offers and buy-before-you-sell products.

As a one-stop shop for real estate, mortgage, title, and escrow services, Houwzer simplifies the chaotic and expensive process of buying homes—helping home buyers win bidding wars with their Houwzer-backed, all-cash offers.

With these new consumer products, Houwzer can address the needs of any buyer or seller no matter where they're at in the home buying journey—providing an easier, faster, and more cost effective alternative to the traditional brokerage model.

And at the heart of Houwzer's disruptive business model is its proprietary and intuitive technology platform that harnesses data to create a seamless experience for its customers. With an API-first architecture and layered in localization services, Houwzer streamlines the entire real estate transaction process using data as the 'secret sauce' for its entire platform.

What's even more impressive is Houwzer's commitment to uplifting humanity as a whole. While the startup is measured by its financial performance and growth, Houwzer is also measured in its achievement to benefit as many lives as possible as a 'Certified B Corporation'.

As a socially-responsible real estate agency, Houwzer takes pride in giving back to its community through reductions in listing commissions for home sellers, employee-mandated volunteer hours, and annual donations of profit to local non-profit organizations. At Estated, our motto is Happy, Healthy Humans and we admire Houwzer's dedication to positively impacting both people and the planet.

Congratulations to Houwzer on your recent funding round and all of your successes! At Estated, we're passionate about partnering with innovative real estate technology companies who want to change the world for the better. If you or any other proptech startups are looking to enhance your customer experience using property data, please reach out below.

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About Estated: Estated is a leading property data provider with records on over 150 million residential and commercial properties nationwide across the United States.

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