A holding company formed by media group Axel Springer and online real estate portal Purplebricks provided €40m ($45.2m) in funding for Germany-based property brokerage service Homeday on Monday.
Founded in 2015, Homeday runs an online platform through which its brokers manage real estate deals, using technology to automate some of the tasks involved in order to make the process more efficient and affordable.
The service is free to sellers, but the company claims buyers also end up spending less than they would with more traditional rivals. Homeday has brokered upwards of $3.3bn of real estate transactions since its launch.
The capital will partially be allocated to product development, as Homeday looks to introduce new services for both its customers and real estate brokerage partners. It also intends to increase its team of real estate experts from 180 to 250 by the end of 2020.
The same holding vehicle maintained by Axel Springer and Purplebricks – itself an Axel Springer portfolio company – joined VC firm Project A to supply $22.8m in debt and series B equity financing for Homeday in late 2018.
Homeday had previously raised a seven-digit amount in a 2016 series A round featuring Project A and Paua Ventures, and Monkfish Equity is also an earlier investor.
