South African prop-tech startup HouseME has closed a third round of multimillion rand funding, taking its total secured investment to US$3 million at it prepares for its Series A.
Formed in 2015 and available to the public by the end of 2016, HouseME is a digital platform that connects prospective tenants to landlords with full automation of the letting agency process, and fair and transparent rental pricing – all for a fraction of traditional fees.
The startup last secured funding last year, and the latest round of investment comes via a large private fund which undertook an extensive external consultancy project on the company, market and product before investing, in the process estimating HouseME’s market size to be valued at ZAR120 billion (US$8.1 billion) per year in South Africa alone.
HouseME’s chief executive officer (CEO) Ben Shaw said the past few years had seen funding becoming more targeted to data insights, financial products and growth.
“Earlier this year, we launched our hugely popular DepositFREE product, and we have another groundbreaking financial services product in the pipeline for launch in early 2020,” he said.
“The funding received so far helps position us for Series A investment, with a focus on data architecture, analytics and scalable growth strategies. Our collaboration with Gumtree at the end of last year raised our profile considerably, and the platform and team have grown substantially since that was announced.”
HouseME currently has a user base of 95,000 and a collection rate of 98.7 per cent, 20 per cent higher than the national average.
