- With the contribution, the company intends to operate in other major Brazilian cities (Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro);
- And debut, in the first half of 2020, in its first international market: Mexico City;
- The money will also be used to create new services and products for both home buyers and sellers.
According to the Brazilian magazine Época Negócios, Loft, a Brazilian startup focused on buying and selling real estate properties and with less than two years of operation, is the newest unicorn in Latin America. After receiving a contribution of $175 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Fifth Wall Ventures and Vulcan Capital, the startup was valued at $1 billion.
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According to Época Negócios, the company was founded in August 2018 by the German Florian Hagenbuch and the Hungarian Mate Pencz with the mission of renovating used luxury apartments of the city of Sao Paulo and reselling them for prices up to 45% above the original value.
Since last year, however, the company has expanded its operations to real estate properties of different sizes and values, in 16 neighborhoods of Sao Paulo. With the contribution, the company intends to operate in other major Brazilian cities (Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro) and debut, in the first half of 2020, in its first international market: Mexico City. The money will also be used to create new services and products for both home buyers and sellers.
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With Loft, Brazil reaches the mark of 12 unicorns (see here the complete timeline of startups that have reached the $1 billion valuation or more in Latin America since 2017).