Houwzer Secures $2M in Seed Money

Houwzer, a technology company that is looking to disrupt the traditional residential real estate brokerage business, has secured $2 million in seed funding.

This is the first outside investment the Philadelphia company has raised and it procured the funds from three main sources: Jay Minkoff, a real estate entrepreneur and co-founder of Homebuilder.com, who also serves as Houwzer’s chairman and operating partner; Ben Franklin Technology Partners; and the StartupPHL Angel Fund. Several other investors also contributed.

Of the money, $1.6 million has already closed with the remainder set to close June 1.

Up to this point, Houwzer has been bootstrapping its growth and for Mike Maher, who co-founded the company in February 2015, the funding comes at a time when he is ready to expand the business into other markets. Maher also helped launch Benjamin’s Desk, a locally-based co-working operator, with his brother Anthony Maher.

When Houwzer was formed, the company had a team of six people. Now it has 35 employees. Maher expects that figure to grow to 50 by year’s end.

The company, which has a presence in Philadelphia, South Jersey and the western suburbs, is looking to establish more outposts throughout the region as well as launch in an undisclosed major metropolitan area in the mid-Atlantic. The money will also be used to invest in building a technology-based platform that seeks to make buying and selling a house a “much more simplified transactional experience,” he said.

Read the full article here.

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