Digital Real State Platform La Haus Receives US$35 Million

Mexican-Colombian startup La Haus has announced it has received around US$35 million in a second investment round lead by Greenspring Associates. La Haus is a startup that aims to digitize Latin America’s real estate market and so far, has received over US$61.5 million in investments since it opened in 2017. The company functions as a property search portal, as well as brokerage. It plans to use these investments to strengthen its participation in the real estate sector, which suffered a 20 to 25 percent decrease through 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Milenio. “The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of new technologies and digital solutions. Three years ago, we started with a vision of professionalizing, simplifying and digitizing the real estate buying and selling process in Latin America and this year we have pushed forward many initiatives that were projected for later years in our plan”, said the President of La Haus, Rodrigo Sánchez-Ríos, to Milenio.

Despite the difficulties the pandemic has caused for the sector, Sánchez-Ríos believes that it has been helpful for La Haus and the way it provides its services digitally. "During 2020, we invested in the creation of a series of tools that facilitate home sale transactions, which have allowed us to generate trust in people; the plan is to follow that same positive path," he said to Forbes Mexico.

Purchasing a home is an important decision and it comes with a difficult process, where buyers have to travel from home to home to see if it fits their needs. La Haus’s edge offers an alternative to this experience where it allows users to look at more options digitally. It offers virtual tours and house visits that are available in a 360° video format, available through the company’s website. This allows buyers to only visit the homes they truly want to see. The company’s value comes from the use of digital tools based on AI and machine learning tools that allow for more agile and trustworthy processes, reports El Universal.

 Purchasing a home takes around 14 months in Latin America, in the US it can take around six weeks. La Haus plans to decrease the length of these selling periods, by using technology and different profiling actions. Ideally, a person would have found their ideal option in less than three months, said Rodrigo Sánchez-Rios to El Universal.