The venture will use the capital obtained to continue its growth in Colombia and to expand its footprint in Mexico.
The residential real estate proptech announced that it raised US $ 100 million in its Series B funding round led by the SoftBank Latin America Fund along with previous investors Inspired Capital, Tiger Global, Homebrew and 8VC.
This represents the largest series B for a startup based in Colombia, since according to data from Tech Crunch, Rappi’s series B was US $ 52 million.
It is also the most important transaction in Latin America led by a woman. This is Brynne M. Rojas, co-founder and CEO of Habi.
“With our unique dataset and proprietary platform, Habi is transforming what was once a murky, painful and months-long process into a transparent, predictable and easy process that is completed in a matter of days,” said Rojas.
The startup will use the capital obtained to continue its growth in Colombia and to expand its footprint in Mexico.
Startup Habi raised $ 3 billion in the largest A2censo campaign
It should be remembered that the platform also achieved the highest collection in a2censo at the end of May, with a total of $ 3,000 million. Likewise, in previous investment rounds it had already achieved more than US $ 15 million in investments.
Leveraging its proprietary and robust database, the company’s pricing model provides home appraisals and deals quickly and automatically, saving clients time, allowing freedom of movement, and providing access to their wealth.
In just over 18 months, Habi has become the most prominent option for buyers and sellers of used homes throughout Colombia. From May 2020 to May 2021, the company’s transaction volume grew 40% month-over-month.
The greatest proof that real estate technology is having its great moment in Latin America has been in Habi, the startup that buys houses, remodels them and sells them, which has closed a new investment round of US $ 100 million in Series B.
Co-founded in Bogotá by Brynne McNulty Rojas and Sebastián Noguera in 2019, Habi developed its own system to appraise properties. After acquiring the properties, they do remodeling and when it is ready, they put them up for sale at competitive prices.
Brynne McNulty Rojas, CEO of Habi, explained to Forbes to make these property valuations, they have a whole team of data scientists, with their own model. “We explain how we value the price to all parties, we handle all the documentation in a clear and transparent way, so that buyers do not have to worry about acquiring a house that has problems.”
This proprietary model contains more than 16 million unique data points and synthesizes everything from location to property size, number of parking spaces, and whether the building has an elevator.
Habi, which was considered by Forbes as one of the 30 promises of businesses in Colombia in 2020, thus raises to US $ 115 million the total capital that they have managed to get from their investors since their origins for their operations. The table that compiles initial investors also includes the Zigg fund and the co-founder and CEO of Rappi Simón Borrero.
This represents the highest-grossing Series B in Latin America by a female CEO and the second-largest Series B generated by a startup in Colombia, following the US $ 185 million round of the Rappi delivery app in 2018, according to Pitchbook. Habi declined to reveal his assessment.
At the same time, the company has resorted to debt through the crowdfunding model of the A2censo platform of the Colombian Stock Exchange, in which it has raised a little more than US $ 1 million.
The firm said that it will use the capital raised to continue its growth in Colombia, where it already operates in Bogotá, Medellín, Barranquilla and Cali, and expand its presence in Mexico. Habi also hopes to continue building its team, which has grown ninefold in the last year to 300 employees.
From May 2020 to May 2021, its volume grew 40% month-on-month despite the negative macroeconomic outlook and the sustained quarantines in Colombia.
“We are offering a value proposition that extends to all relevant stakeholders: Owners get reliability and access to liquidity, Buyers get a trusted partner, Brokers leverage data that empowers them and banks can make better credit decisions thanks to the improved pricing information we provide, “said Rojas. “We look forward to partnering with SoftBank, along with our existing investors, to expand our services across the continent.”
Sebastián Noguera reiterates that buying and selling a house is usually the most important financial decision in a person’s life, and that people turn to the platform seeking to unlock the wealth they have stored in their home and to make responsible investments. “Our success is attributable to our world-class talent, and this new capital allows us to continue to grow our exceptional team, beginning with the experienced leadership team that already works hard at CDMX.”
For Shu Nyatta, managing partner of SoftBank’s SBLA Advisers Corp, Habi has built a platform that is shaping the future proptech of Latin America.
