Tech startups are picking apart different areas of the real estate industry ranging from commercial leasing to brokerages and real estate analytics, attracting investment and putting real estate tech on track for a new funding high this year. Here are a few recent deals of note:
- Last month, brokerage platform Compass raised a $50M Series C led by Institutional Venture Partners at an $800M valuation
- VTS, which offers a cloud service for managing commercial property leases, raised a $21M Series B led by Openview Venture Partners in July 2015.
- Other deals include real estate crowdfunding Realty Mogul‘s $35M Series B, in September 2015, led by Sorenson Capital; and a $13M Series B in January 2015 for real estate analytics platform Reonomy, led by Bain Capital Ventures.
By definition, real estate technology encompasses all dedicated software used by different participants in the real estate industry, including brokers, investors, property owners and managers, as well as buyers. The category includes online real estate rental and buying guides.
Below is our overview of real estate tech trends which includes deals and dollars breakdowns, most well-funded companies, and most active investors.
Real estate tech tops $1B across 151 deals in 2014
In 2014, real estate tech saw a record year, reaching more than $1B in dollars deployed across more than 150 deals. This represents a 358% increase in funding compared to 2010’s total, and a 148% increase year-over-year. Interestingly, roughly 53% of dollars deployed to real estate tech in 2014 went to companies headquartered in China and India, including Mumbai-based Housing.com, Shenzhen-based real estate buying guide Fangdd, and China’s AirBnB-type site, Aiwujiwu.
2015 looks like it will remain flat on a deal basis, but funding is on track to set a multiyear high and will hit $1.5B, if the year-to-date trends persists.
3 of last 4 quarters reach over $300M in dollars invested
The first half of 2015 saw more than $700M dollars invested across 77 deals, and Q2’15 represented a multiyear quarterly high in funding (thought not in deals). The quarter was buoyed by big deals, including a $129M Series D to Singapore-based real estate listing site PropertyGuru and $60M in growth equity to Real Matters, which offers property insurance and mortgage providers with cloud-based property data.
Over the last 4 quarters real estate tech activity has topped 35 deals, which is a significant step-up in activity compared to 2010, which saw all four quarters below 10 deals.
Mid-stage deals take 37% of dollar share
Mid-stage (Series B and Series C) investments have commanded the bulk of dollar funding to real estate tech companies since 2010, accounting for 37% of dollar share. Early-stage (Angel and Series A) dollar share also saw significant investment and accounts for 24% of all funding.
Finally, late-stage (Series D+) dollar share attracted 21% dollar share, with just 8% coming from Series D rounds.
Seed-stage deal share surges
The seed/angel stage dominated deal activity, accounting for almost half of all deals completed since 2010. Overall, early-stage rounds — Seed/Angel plus Series A — took a whopping 69% of deal share to real estate tech companies. Mid- and late-stage deals accounted for just 16% of deals in the six-year period, as seen below.
Select early-stage companies include photo-focused mobile house rental marketplace RadPad, real estate crowdfunding platform Fundrise, listing startup HouseSimple, and analytics and valuation platform ResiModel.
Most well-Funded Companies
Six of the top 10 most well-funded real estate tech companies are based outside of the US. Shenzen, China-based real estate platform Fangdd tops the list, having raised $311M since its founding. PropertyGuru and Aiwujiwu, which are both based in Singapore and China, respectively, round out the top 3.
| Rank | Total Disclosed Funding | Company |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $311M | Fangdd |
| 2 | $195M | PropertyGuru |
| 3 | $167M | Redfin |
| 4 | $155M | Aiwujiwu |
| 5 | $142M | Auction.com |
| 6 | $127M | Real Matters |
| 7 | $118M | Compass |
| 8 | $117M | Housing.com |
| 9 | $105M | SMS Assist |
| 10 | $68M | Qfang.com |
Most active investors
500 Startups is the most active VC investor in real estate tech since 2013. Other active investors include Thrive Capital, which has invested in real estate tech companies including Compass, RealCadre Company, and 42Floors.
| Rank | Investor |
|---|---|
| 1 | 500 Startups |
| 2 | Thrive Capital |
| 3 | RRE Ventures |
| 3 | Frontier Digital Ventures |
| 3 | New Enterprise Associates |
| 3 | BoxGroup |
| 3 | DCM Ventures |
| 8 | Greylock Partners |
| 8 | Canaan Partners |
| 8 | Accel Partners |
Most active early-stage investors
500 startups is also the most active early-stage investor with early-stage investments in HomeLight and Happy Inspector. RRE Ventures ties Thrive Capital as the second most active early-stage investor. They are both investors in Hightower, the leasing management platform based in New York.
| Rank | Investor |
|---|---|
| 1 | 500 Startups |
| 2 | RRE Ventures |
| 2 | Thrive Capital |
| 4 | Frontier Digital Ventures |
| 4 | Red Swan Ventures |
| 4 | General Catalyst Partners |
| 4 | BoxGroup |
| 4 | Canaan Partners |
| 4 | Felicis Ventures |
| 4 | DCM Ventures |
Want more real estate tech data? Check out our venture capital database below.
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