Roughly two months after raising one of the largest venture capital rounds in Spain, iBuying proptech Clikalia revealed Tuesday it snapped up another €75 million ($86 million) round co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Fifth Wall.
Following the popular iBuyer model established in the US by Redfin and Opendoor, Clikalia guarantees sellers an offer for their property in as fast as 24 hours and, if accepted, a sale in 7 days.
Mitigating what would typically be a slower process of selling in Europe, Clikalia has integrated digital components to the home-flipping process that allows the company to snap up properties in less than a week from sellers and offer buyers fully renovated and certified homes.
Now, with fresh capital in the bank, the iBuying proptech plans to expand its services in to more European and Latin American markets. Based on information surrounding its $518 million debt and equity raise in December, Clikalia is already working its operations in to Portugal and is eyeing France as its next frontier.
It will also be investing in inking more partnerships with companies that bring in a steady stream of inventory and those that can make the renovation process more efficient, according to TechCrunch.
Most recently, Clikalia completed the acquisition of property and rental management company Inmho that provided the company access to more than 250,000 residential units.
“When you buy a home from us, you have all costs in the embedded price,” said Alister Moreno, Clikalia CEO and co-founder at the time of it’s last round.
“If you buy an old home, get a mortgage for an old home and then hire a contractor and architect for a renovation, that will cost you 4x more than it costs us. And you have to get a consumer loan to finance the renovation. With Clikalia, it’s just one mortgage and you’re ready to go.”
While popularized mainly within the last decade, the iBuying model sparked controversy last year when real estate portal Zillow announced they would lay off 25% of the workforce and shut down their iBuying arm after taking on millions in losses. Richard Barton, Zillow’s CEO, pointed to the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeded what the company had anticipated.
For sellers, iBuyers promise a quicker sale without agents and showings, a strategy that can have negative affects on first time homebuyers trying to enter the market given its instant offer tactics.
However, investors in Clikalia’s Tuesday round seem confident in the proptech’s model to produce a more positive return.
The residential real estate market in Southern Europe is highly fragmented, with limited price transparency, poor quality stock and transactions on average taking twice the time of other European markets,” said Elizabeth Wells, investor for SoftBank Investment Advisers, in a statement to TechCrunch.
“We believe Clikalia’s technology directly addresses these legacy asymmetries and improves the customer experience at every stage,” Wells added.