proptech

Virgil helps you buy bigger apartments in exchange for home equity stakes • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 17, 2022Posted in Fintech, home equity, proptech, VirgilNo Comments

French startup Virgil has raised a $15.6 million funding round (€15 million). The company invests in apartments alongside home buyers before they even get the keys for their new home. This way, future homeowners can buy a bigger place in exchange for an equity stake in their apartment. Home equity is a much more fluid market in the U.S. than in France. The vast majority of homeowners in France hold 100% of the equity of their place as soon as they sign the paperwork that officially transfers legal ownership of the place. Of couse, most people also get a mortgage. In the U.S., your home equity is the value of your home minus the amount you owe on your mortgage. In France, you already own the place but you have a huge credit line to pay back over time. Virgil wants to switch things up by becoming a minor home investor in exchange for a down payment on your mortgage. The idea is that Virgil can help you get a bigger place, or a smaller loan. With today’s funding round, the startup is setting €7 million aside to invest in property transactions. Global Founders Capital is investing in the company for the first time. Existing investors Alven, LocalGlobe and Evolem are participating in a founding round once again. Aquasourca and business angels like Clément Alteresco, Emmanuel Amon and Victoria van Lennep are also investing in the startup. Virgil can hand you up to €100,000 to finance your home acquisition. There’s a simple 1.5x ratio on the share of your home equity. Here’s an example: on average, customers get €50,000, which represents 10% of the value of the apartment they want to buy (€500,000). As a result, Virgil owns 15% of the customer’s home. The startup limits its investments to 20% of the initial home value. In that case, the startup would own 30% of the home equity, which is quite a lot. When it’s time to sell your place, Virgil gets its investment back. The business model becomes particularly interesting in a bull housing market. But there’s also some risk for Virgil if the housing market drops significantly. In that case, some homeowners might not want to sell either so you have to factor that in as well. But what if you have found your “forever place” and you don’t want to sell? In that case, Virgil still wants to close its position after 10 years. Homeowners will have to set some money aside or get a second loan to buy out Virgil’s stake. In the worst case scenario, homeowners may have to sell their apartment. Over the past three years, Virgil has allocated €50 million in home financing in the Paris area. And the startup has ambitious goals as it wants to finance €50 million worth of housing transactions every month. If Virgil becomes massively successful, it could lead to some artificial inflation on the housing market in Paris as the Virgil stake will be baked in. So it’s going to be interesting to see the effect of a startup like Virgil on expensive cities like Paris.

TAM tough love, ‘building in public,’ 6 key SaaS metrics • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 4, 2022Posted in Commerce, e-commerce, EC roundup, immigration law, proptech, Startups, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022, VentureNo Comments

Are you ready to launch a bajillion-dollar startup? Before you start: Are you planning to build a centaur, a unicorn or perhaps a decacorn? Startup pitching has become an existential drama, in part because so many founders exaggerate the size of the total addressable market (TAM) in which they hope to compete. At ZebethMedia Disrupt, I spoke to three investors about how they use TAM to guide their decision-making. Everyone agreed that the number itself is far less important than the process that produced it. “The way it’s calculated and the way the founder is thinking about it tells us not necessarily about the business or its future, but about how the founder thinks about company creation,” said Deena Shakir, a partner at Lux Capital. Full ZebethMedia+ articles are only available to members.Use discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription. “It is almost guaranteed you’re going to be wrong,” said Aydin Senkut, the founder and managing partner of Felicis Ventures. “It’s either going to be too large or too small.” Kara Nortman, a managing partner at Upfront Ventures, said the TAM numbers given in a pitch do not control whether she’s likely to invest. “I would say [it is] more important to be able to articulate how big something can become and to show that you have a thought process around TAM, if it’s early,” she said. Choosing a mythical TAM won’t put dollar signs in investors’ eyes, as unrealistic numbers reflect unrealistic expectations, a red flag for any VC. As Senkut said, “the plan doesn’t have to be accurate — the plan has to be directionally correct.” Thanks very much for reading TC+ this week! Walter ThompsonEditorial Manager, ZebethMedia+@yourprotagonist 3 investors explain how finance-focused proptech startups can survive the downturn Image Credits: Kuzma (opens in a new window) / Getty Images How are finance-oriented property tech investors reacting to the ongoing downturn in public markets? Senior reporter Mary Ann Azevedo interviewed three VCs to learn more about how they’re counseling the companies in their portfolios, which types of startups are best positioned to weather the downturn and how they’re managing risk: Pete Flint, general partner, NFX Zach Aarons, co-founder and general partner, MetaProp Nima Wedlake, principal, Thomvest Ventures How Metafy founder Josh Fabian caught the attention of 776 by building in public Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images At ZebethMedia Disrupt, Josh Fabian, CEO of video game coaching platform Metafy, explained why he’s committed to “building in public,” or sharing aspects of his founder’s journey with an audience. “Consumers don’t trust corporations; I don’t trust corporations,” he said. “I don’t think any of you do, even if you’re running your own.” Katelin Holloway, a founding partner at 776 (an investor in Metafy), said Fabian’s approach was a breath of fresh air. “We were able to just engage and talk like humans, and Josh told us his story in a very different way,” she said. “Not only was it incredibly compelling from a business perspective, it was incredibly compelling from a human perspective,” she said. Is the modern data stack just old wine in a new bottle? Image Credits: Mikhail Dmitriev (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Before Ashish Kakran became a principal at Thomvest Ventures, he was a data engineer who transformed disparate consumer data points into optimized offers for consumer telecoms. “Part of my job involved unpacking encrypted data feeds, removing rows or columns that had missing data and mapping the fields to our internal data models,” he writes in a TC+ guest post. “Our statistics team then used the clean, updated data to model the best offer for each household.” Because today’s datasets contain exponentially more information, “the rules are being rewritten on how data will be used for competitive advantage, and it won’t be long before the winners emerge,” he asserts. In a deep dive, he compares modern and legacy data stacks to identify key trends for enterprises and opportunities for founders and investors. “Practitioners are spoilt for choices when building enterprise data pipelines,” says Kakran. Investor’s advice during a downturn: Don’t panic Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images Fewer investors are writing checks these days, but what kind of advice have they been giving their portfolio companies in recent months? Mary Ann Azevedo spoke to three executives at ZebethMedia Disrupt to learn more about the strategies they’re promoting to preserve runway and their peace of mind. Eric Glyman, CEO, Ramp Thejo Kote, CEO, Airbase Ruth Foxe Blader, partner, Anthemis “It behooves everybody to be really lucid about the macro environment that we’re entering,” said Blader. “It’s likely to be long-lived, and it’s very important to be judicious but not lose sight of your goals and the reason you founded the business in the first place.” 6 key metrics that can help SaaS startups outlast this downturn Image Credits: Andy Ryan (opens in a new window) / Getty Images The most successful companies I’ve worked at fostered parasocial relationships with customers in much the same way many of us invest emotional energy while following the lives of celebrities. During a downturn, “the goal is to pick up on warning signs early and course-correct as you go, and those signs are often hidden in the breadcrumbs,” writes Sudheesh Nair, CEO of ThoughtSpot. “Not all industries are affected equally, so don’t assume your customers will cut spending this year just because the headlines are bleak.” Tips for e-commerce brands that want to win more market share this holiday season Image Credits: Justin Sullivan (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Santa Claus makes a list and checks it twice before each holiday season. Can your e-commerce startup make the same claim? “Consumers are now living with inflation and an unofficial recession, and we can expect more selective and price-conscious shopping behavior,” writes Guru Hariharan, CEO and founder of CommerceIQ. Now that people “are feeling the squeeze on their everyday essential purchases” and the holiday shopping season is

3 investors explain how finance-focused proptech startups can survive the downturn • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in EC Fintech, EC investor survey, EC Real Estate and Proptech, economic downturn, Fintech, proptech, real estate tech, StartupsNo Comments

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, interest rates for mortgages dropped to historic lows. Predictably, home buyers made hay, taking full advantage of the favorable financial environment to pick up new homes and refinancing mortgages on their existing homes. Startups operating in the financial side of the real estate tech market suddenly faced a surge in demand, and many departed on hiring sprees to keep up. But as those interest rates, housing prices and inflation began to climb back up, demand slowed dramatically. This meant that the once high-flying startups were suddenly dealing with the opposite problem — too many employees and not enough transactions to make money. Layoffs became widespread. Shutdowns were a thing again. As interest rates soared even higher, the once frothy market morphed into an environment where only the fittest could survive. We’re widening our lens, looking for more investors to participate in ZebethMedia surveys, where we poll top professionals about challenges in their industry. If you’re an investor and would like to participate in future surveys, fill out this form. To get a sense of how investors who have backed proptech startups with a financial focus are dealing with the market shift, we reached out to three active investors. The trio shared their thoughts on everything from what types of startups in the home buying and lending space have the best shot at survival to the advice they are giving startups in their portfolios. Pete Flint, general partner of NFX, noted that the chances of survival are higher for proptech startups that let consumers fractionally invest in properties and increase access for those seeking a rent-to-own approach. “The best thing founders can do during a downturn is move quickly and efficiently, and evolve their offering to match the new needs of the market. This will help them capture more market share, which will give them the highest chance of survival,” he said. Nima Wedlake, principal at Thomvest Ventures, agreed, noting that agility is a critical trait. “Startups that survive this period will adapt their product offerings to meet the needs of today’s homeowners and buyers,” he said. In such a climate, companies that help others navigate tough times seem to be in special demand. “Companies that sell software that enables cost-cutting or additional lead-generation opportunities are seeing accelerating adoption as incumbent mortgage companies realize they need an edge to drive demand,” Zach Aarons, co-founder and general partner of MetaProp, pointed out. “If a startup can prove its users see significant savings, then they shouldn’t have a hard time being successful in this market,” he said. We spoke with: Editor’s note: For a more complete picture, we’re examining the proptech sector from three different angles. This survey covers proptech startups with a financial focus, and we’ll soon publish a survey that looks at upcoming tech in the space, and another that examines the environmental impact of proptech and what startups are doing to minimize their footprint. Pete Flint, general partner, NFX Startups doing anything related to home buying or lending have struggled this year. Which types of startups operating in the home buying/lending space do you think have the highest chances of survival? Resilient proptech companies have to be able to navigate the cyclicality of the industry. It is embedded in the category, and with the long housing and tech boom, many founders have underestimated this. In my view, it is less about the “type” of startup that is more likely to survive now and more about what the startups do to respond to this moment. The best thing founders can do during a downturn is move quickly and efficiently, and evolve their offering to match the new needs of the market. This will help them capture more market share, which will give them the highest chance of survival. The verticals that we think will be more resilient during this economy are:

Opendoor lays off about 550 employees, or 18% of its workforce • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in Eric Wu, Fintech, Layoffs, OpenDoor, proptech, real estate techNo Comments

Opendoor is letting go of about 550 people, or 18% of the company, across all functions, its co-founder and CEO Eric Wu announced in a blog post today. The real estate technology company is one of many real estate tech companies that have had to lay off workers in 2022. Online mortgage lender Better.com has had multiple rounds of layoffs and in June, Redfin and Compass shed a combined 900+ workers. Skyrocketing mortgage interest rates and inflation are largely to blame for the decreased demand that has led to slowdowns in business at such companies. For his part, Opendoor’s Wu said his company was navigating “one of the most challenging real estate markets in 40 years.” In his blog post, the executive said that his company over the past two quarters had worked to reduce its operating expenses. He wrote: “Prior to today, we scaled back our capacity by over 830 positions – primarily by reducing third party resourcing – and we eliminated millions of fixed expenses. We did not make the decision to downsize the team today lightly but did so to ensure we can accomplish our mission for years to come.” Impacted employees will receive ten weeks of severance pay, with an additional two weeks of pay for every full year beyond two years of tenure. All current healthcare benefits will remain active for the rest of the month, then Opendoor will pay for three months of health insurance. The company also plans to offer “job transition support” and launch an opt-in talent directory to help laid off team members “connect with new opportunities.” Opendoor went public in late December 2020 after completing its planned merger with the SPAC Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings II, headed by investor Chamath Palihapitiya. The eight-year-old company first offered its stock to the public at $31.47 per share. At the time of writing today, shares were trading at $2.48, only slightly higher than the company’s 52-week low of $2.26. This means that the company is valued at just $1.56 billion, down from a valuation of $8 billion in 2021. When it comes to venture capital, Opendoor last raised $300 million at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation in March of 2019. Over time, it has raised about $1.3 billion in equity funding and nearly $3 billion in debt financing to finance its home purchases. Investors in the company include General Atlantic, the SoftBank Vision Fund, NEA, Norwest Venture Partners, GV, GGV Capital, Access Technology Ventures, SV Angel and Fifth Wall Ventures, along with others. Founders include Eric Wu and Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois.