Brazil‘s Captei, a startup that helps real estate agencies in the process of finding properties for their portfolio, got its first funding round, a BRL 7.5 million Seed led by venture capital firm DOMO Invest and followed by ACE Startups, focused on early-stage startups, and Terracotta Ventures, a VC focused on the real estate market.
Founded in 2019 in Florianopolis by Leonardo Fabra Gomez (CEO), Jonathan Fabra Gomez (CTO), and Diego Moeller (CCO), Captei has developed a platform through which partner real estate agencies are able to search more assertively for residential and commercial properties to expand their sales and rental portfolios. Captei’s platform is already used by more than 900 real estate companies.
The capital raised will be used to finance Captei’s expansion. The startup expects to reach more than 2,000 real estate partners and BRL 6.3 million in revenues this year.
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Part of the funds will also be used to launch a new solution for finding properties and to consolidate the acquisition of Woliver, a startup that helps real estate agencies to digitize the entire customer journey for rent or buy a property.
“The digitization forced on the real estate segment by pandemic has increased the need for technological solutions such as the one we offer. We want to go further by proposing a solution that will change the way real estate agents carry out the commercial process, from acquiring clients to signing rental or sales contracts,” explained Gomez, Captei’s CEO.
Captei’s growth jump came when the startup redesigned its business to a SaaS model. When it started, Captei offered a marketing platform for real estate firms, a product proven by the market, but not very scalable, according to the founders. It was then that the trio decided to restructure the business to its current offering. By doing that, the startup saw a 1,115% increase in customers from 2019 to 2020, going from 20 to 243.
According to Gomez, the restructuring to a scalable technology platform allowed the company to be seen as a promising player in the segment and brought it closer to its first investment.
“Proptechs are performing a true disruption in the real estate market and Captei is an example of this, offering an assertive real estate search process that benefits the entire chain, from property owners to real estate agencies, and to the final client. This shows us how technology and a data-driven platform can transform a business,” said Gabriel Sidi, founding partner of DOMO Invest.
