Homeward, a real estate tech company making it easier to buy and sell houses, just raised $25 million in funding to build out its future.
The Austin-based company announced the round today, which includes $4 million in equity and $21 million in debt financing. The new funds allow Homeward to scale its real estate platform and improve the mobile customer experience.
It also marks the first investment as the company attempts to simplify the home buying process through its platform. That process starts with inverting the buying and selling process, said Tim Heyl, founder and CEO of Homeward, in a statement.
“The current process of home buying is backwards,” he said. “Buyers have to sell their existing home and then rush to find a new one. We remove this uncertainty by letting buyers use our cash to secure their next home first. Then they can take their time and sell their existing home for its full market value.”
Heyl, who started his career as a real estate professional, launched Homeward in 2018 after encountering the Catch-22 of home shopping. Buyers didn’t want to make an offer on a new home until they sold their existing home, but they feared listing their current home without knowing where they were going next.
Heyl started Homeward to simplify the complicated dance by flipping the process. Through the platform, approved users can receive credit for their homes up front. Those funds allow them to make all-cash offers on new homes through Homeward, before they list their current ones.
As an added reassurance, the company will buy the seller’s house at an agreed-upon price in case the homeowner can’t sell their current home. In these instances, homeowners can buy their new homes from Homeward at the listing price, plus a fixed 1.9 percent fee.
Homeward’s platform is currently available in Texas, Georgia and Colorado.
“I want to make it easier and more convenient for existing home owners to buy their next dream home,” Heyl told Built In. “This influx of funds allows us to continue improving our initial offering and expand it more broadly across Texas, Georgia and Colorado."
With this new round, Heyl said the company plans to build on its revenue, which has grown 20-to-30 percent month-over-month, and signficantly grow its team. The funds allow him to build on the dream he had when he started in real estate a decade ago.
“Ever since I started in the real estate industry over a decade ago, I've wanted to redesign the home buying process,” Heyl said. “Now, we have a compelling product, early customer traction, and are well funded. I want us to keep building on this momentum to create exceptional home buying experiences for our customers.”
Liveoak Venture led the equity funding round, with participation from the founders of Opcity, ApartmentList and others. Homeward secured debt funding from Genesis Capital, Keystone Bank, among others.
