Aalto's Homeowner Marketplace Launches from Stealth with $13M Series A to Grow the Housing Market
With new funding led by Sequoia Capital and up to ten percent of available inventory in some of the Bay Area's hottest markets, Aalto is working toward the goal of doubling the region's housing inventory
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Aalto, the homeowner marketplace, today announced a $13 million Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Background Capital, Defy Partners, Maple VC, and Greg Waldorf, the first investor at Trulia. Aalto's online marketplace directly connects homeowners to qualified buyers, bringing a fair, efficient, and enjoyable solution to compete with the legacy real estate industry. Aalto is the fastest-growing home buying and selling marketplace in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a network of more than 30,000 buyers. With five to ten percent of total available inventory listed on Aalto in competitive markets like Dublin, Fremont, Mill Valley, and Milpitas, the company is on its way to bring more homes to market, sooner.
"Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest events people will ever experience, but it's also a tedious, outdated process," said Nick Narodny, Founder and CEO of Aalto. "As the son of two real estate agents, I've seen this first hand. We built Aalto's homeowner marketplace to give sellers a way to enter the market that's actually designed to fit into their lives, on a timeline that suits them. As a result, more homes are hitting the market and buyers will have more options when searching for their dream home."
The housing market has changed drastically in the past year. The median existing-home sales price in May topped $350,000 for the first time, which is nearly 24% higher than a year ago. While that may lead to a sellers' market overall, the strain that results from a traditional listing process keeps many potential sellers from wanting to enter the fray. Aalto aims to double the number of homes on the market in the Bay Area by streamlining the way homeowners can list, without the third-parties or contracts required elsewhere. This dramatically lowers the bar to sell, bringing homes to market an average of four and a half months earlier than traditional real estate processes and increasing housing options for buyers.
"The bottom line is that until Aalto, selling your home was a legacy offline experience characterized by frustration, high costs, and a 1900s experience," said Bryan Schreier, Partner at Sequoia Capital. "Aalto has re-wired real estate to provide the experience people deserve for their most important asset. According to their customers, Aalto is the bold future of residential real estate."
While current solutions on the market are built around real estate agents, Aalto focuses on the needs of sellers and buyers. For sellers, Aalto gives more control and higher returns, with:
- Share Your Home Directly with Pre-Qualified Buyers: Aalto's unique Preview Listing feature lets sellers list with no-risk and no commitment, reducing the time it takes to put a home online from roughly five weeks to five minutes.
- Build a Waitlist for Your Home: Provides more flexibility and the ability to learn about a home sale without commitment, testing price, timing, and more. Sellers can build a waitlist of qualified buyers while they consider their sale.
- Maximum Discretion with Minimum Disruption: Limits the impact on people's daily lives with an experience that is more respectful than the traditional selling process, including privacy controls and virtual staging.
- ~ $44,000 Additional Profit: Removes the middleman and allows sellers to make an average of $44,000 more on their home sale.
- Data and Storytelling: Empowers homeowners to tell the story of their home using their unique knowledge of the property and neighborhood, and provides them with full analytics on how their home is performing on the marketplace.
For buyers, Aalto offers a sneak peek into exclusive properties before they list, and:
- A Modern, Tech-Forward Experience: Offers an easy and transparent process for showings and closings, with the ability to set up instant alerts, join waitlists, and schedule showings in one easy-to-use platform.
- No More Shadow Inventory: Unlocks pocket listings, or homes shared exclusively with an agents' network, for every buyer, regardless of who they know.
"Selling our home on Aalto helped us maximize value through an efficient process without any open houses or expensive fees," said Tom T., a seller on Aalto. "My wife and I loved the flexibility of Aalto, which helped with our complex moving timeline. We also loved how Aalto has no days on market, so we never felt rushed. And lastly, we're confident that we got the right number for our home sale in addition to saving fees and time."
Aalto's Series A brings the company's funding to $17.3 million to date. This new capital will be used to drive further product innovation and develop features to help homeowners sell more quickly and easily. It will also lend to the expansion of Aalto's world-class team. Moving forward, the company plans to expand beyond the Bay Area to reach major metropolitan real estate markets across the country.
To learn more, visit: http://www.Aalto.com.
About Aalto
Aalto is the homeowner marketplace that gives people a way to buy and sell homes on their terms. With Aalto, it takes a potential seller less than five minutes to share their home directly with qualified buyers without the fees and contracts required to sell elsewhere. Thousands of buyers and sellers across the San Francisco Bay Area are already using Aalto, with new homes added daily. The company has raised $17.3 million in total funding to date from Sequoia Capital and other investors. To learn more, visit: http://www.Aalto.com.
Media Contact
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SOURCE Aalto
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