HonestDoor, an online resource for real estate appraisals, recently announced that it has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Luge Capital led the funding round, with participation from Bluesky Equities, Conconi Growth Partners, Panache Ventures, Reach Canada, SAF Group, Startup TNT and Wheaton Group, as well as entrepreneurs Sanders Lee, Ashif Mawji and Blaine LaBonte.
HonestDoor says it will use the funds “to evolve its real estate platform to facilitate on-demand delivery of automated valuation models on any property in Canada at a consistently high level of accuracy.” The company also plans to test its model in select US markets.
HonestDoor says it leverages real estate data, machine learning, data science, and a team of data analysts to provide estimated real estate valuations on homes and condos. The company, which was founded in 2018, also aggregates property taxes, transaction data, permit data and neighborhood growth rates to provide an information resource on real estate in Canada.
“By using HonestDoor, real estate agents and existing/potential owners can make more informed decisions based on trends, predictive metrics related to the rental market or resale trends in neighborhood assessments, permits applied for a property they are considering buying, home appraisals and more,” the company said in a press release.
The company says it will soon provide this information for almost all properties in Canada, not just those listed for sale.
Daniel Belostotsky, Founder and CEO of HonestDoor, said, “With this injection of capital, we can build on our success to date. This means evolving our platform and refining our data models to ensure that Canadians across the country have real estate appraisals at their fingertips, backed by an unparalleled degree of accuracy.
HonestDoor is currently a real estate resource for those living in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba. It says it has a median error rate of 2.48% for listed properties and 7.55% for off-market properties.
“Similar to how Canadians sign up to receive updates on their credit score through companies like Borrowell and Credit Karma, since January 2022, approximately 10,000 users have signed up to monitor their price. HonestDoor,” says Belostotsky. “We expect this number to increase significantly over time.”
HonestDoor says it has also become a resource for real estate agents and brokers who want easy access to land title transactions and are looking to provide their clients with home appraisals by adding the HonestDoor widget (API) to their websites. . Lenders and mortgage brokers also rely on HonestDoor to help inform decisions about mortgage applications, the company says.
“HonestDoor is the first real estate search engine of its kind to provide key property data, facts and price predictions,” said David Nault, general partner at Luge Capital. “The real estate market in Canada lacks a central resource for comprehensive property data and pricing information. HonestDoor’s comprehensive property and appraisal reports help consumers, realtors and lenders make better decisions.