Toronto-based proptech startup Properly has raised $44 million to scale its tech-enabled real estate brokerage and capitalize on a surging Canadian market.
The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from strategic investors Intact Ventures and FCT. A number of notable individuals participated in the round, including Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen, Spencer Rascoff (co-founder and former CEO of Zillow), and Eric Wu (CEO of Opendoor), among others.
After incredible growth in Toronto over the past year, Properly CEO Anshul Ruparell told BetaKit that “with this funding, we’ll be in a position to take that strength that we’ve built in Toronto and expand it across the rest of the country.”
In the short term, Properly will set its sights on Vancouver and the rest of Ontario, specifically Ottawa, Hamilton, and Waterloo. To do so, Properly is looking to triple its staff of 60 full-time employees over the next 12 months.
US investors are jumping on the opportunity to partner with Properly due to its recent success and potential to capture Canada’s appreciating real estate market. Canadian home prices have grown 39 percent over the last five years and 81 percent over the last decade, but according to Bain Capital Ventures partner Merritt Hummer, the Canadian real estate market has seen little innovation compared to the more mature US market.
Given what she called a “greenfield opportunity” north of the border, the VC told BetaKit that “Properly will become synonymous with home buying in Canada, much like Zillow is synonymous with home discovery in the US.”
According to Ruparell, Properly doesn’t currently plan to expand internationally, citing new investor Michael Katchen’s approach to building Wealthsimple as a blueprint. The CEO stated that he believes Properly is “really the only company in Canada that offers a service beyond the traditional way of buying and selling” homes.
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