Chilean proptech Houm raises a $35M Series A to reach new markets

The Chilean proptech company Houm announced a Series A investment round of $35 million. The operation was led by VC funds Goodwater Capital, the largest focused on consumer internet companies in the U.S., and Fifth Wall, which has made several investments in other proptech companies.

Previous investors such as OneVC, Elad Gil, Liu Jang and Fen Ventures also participated in this round, as well as individual investors such as Rahul Mehta, partner of DST Global.

This round will be used by Houm to begin operating in 15 new cities in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. A big chunk of the new capital will be invested in new hires, as the company wants to triple the size of its team in the short term.

This round comes only six months after Houm announced an $8 million seed round following its participation in the Y Combinator W21 program. After this financing round, Houm was able to consolidate in Bogotá and then expand to Mexico City.

Houm has grown 11x during the last year. It currently has more than 350 full-time employees and 300 houmers, or the company’s independent real estate agents.

Doors keep opening for proptechs in LatAm

Houm is a platform for leasing, buying, and selling real estate online in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.

The company wants to become the main digital real estate broker in the region. Although Houm’s business model has slight differences compared to Colombian proptech La Haus, these two companies are going for the same market: young millennials interested in investing in real estate developments in the region easily and within the reach of a click.

The proptech sector is growing rapidly in Latin America. VC’s investment in regional proptech companies was $571 million in 2020.

After fintech, e-commerce, and super apps, Proptech is the fourth largest sector in terms of invested VC capital in 2020, capital the sectors that raised the most capital in 2020, after fintech startups, e-commerce and super apps, according to a report by the Latin American Private Capital Investment Association (LAVCA).

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