Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
London home search startup for renters Homie has just successfully raised $4 million in a seed funding round that brings its total funding to $6 million.
Homie, not to be confused with the U.S. agent-less listing platform of the same name, said the round was led by Connect Ventures and supported by a host of other investors including Seedcamp, Venture Friends and The Family, whom all backed its vision of delivering a faster, more affordable and more transparent approach for renters looking to relocate.
Alex Eid, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, said that Homie aims to rewrite the renter’s rule book by assigning a personal home finder, called a “Homie” to each renter that signs up to its service. The Homie uses a proprietary aggregator platform to scour the market and match renters with suitable properties.
The service only searches for properties that match each renter’s exact specifications, saving them hours of time searching through traditional listings portals. This also removes the need to deal with multiple real estate agents, the company said.
The Homie also acts as the renter’s personal agent, and will even accompany them on an all-inclusive taxi journey across the city, visiting up to ten properties on a two-hour tour, at the same time providing unbiased advice and information on each neighborhood that’s visited.
The company also points to its research, which shows that renters in London traditionally waste up to 20 hours per month searching for a home, and up to five hours on property viewings. Homie reckons it can reduce that time to a total of just four hours.
“This new investment represents an incredible opportunity for us to further develop our tech platform and team without compromising on any of the personal aspects of Homie that make it so unique,” Eid said. “Our vision has always been to make London’s rental market faster, more transparent and easier to navigate whilst delivering a personal service.”
