In 2021, Seattle’s largest tech funding rounds almost doubled in size compared to the previous year. While watching a company score the jackpot is always exciting, seeing what they do with their fresh funding is perhaps even more intriguing.
Now, well into 2022, we’re starting to notice more companies actually capitalizing on their fundraising successes, channeling the influx into novel products, expansion into new markets and hiring sprees. And while growth is the name of the game when it comes to utilizing funding, businesses have to be strategic in their spending to ensure they’re getting the most bang for their buck.
To learn how Seattle tech is handling its substantial budgets, Built In Seattle connected with leaders from Coinme and Flyhomes, two local companies that received hefty rounds in 2021. Read on to see how these organizations are planning to deploy that capital in the coming months, and what kind of talent they’re seeking to support their ambition.
When was your last funding round, how much did you raise and how much funding has your company now raised in total?
Our last equity funding round was a $150 million Series C in June 2021, and our total equity raised is currently $190 million.
Meet Flyhomes’ investors
- Lead investors: Norwest Venture Partners and Battery Ventures, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Canvas Ventures and Mark Vadon, the cofounder of Blue Nile and Zulily.
- New investors: Spencer Rascoff — the former CEO of Zillow — as well as Fifth Wall, Camber Creek, BAM Elevate and more.
Why did your team feel that the time was right to raise a round of funding?
We, along with our investors, recognized that we had found a strong product-market fit. Our mission is to deliver the world’s best home-buying and selling experience, and we consistently get feedback from clients that this is what they are receiving. We have a ton of work to do to deliver consistently at greater and greater scale, but we felt now was the right time to raise a large round and take the business to the next level.
Through the process of raising capital and talking with investors, we also recognized that our business model is both higher margin and lower risk than what most other innovators are doing in residential proptech. Businesses that actually make money have started to come back in style, which bodes well for us. We’re not profitable during our current growth phase, but we have a clear path to get there.
The nature of our offerings doesn’t limit us by customer segment or type of market, so our TAM, or total addressable market, is massive. There is $1.7 trillion in annual United States residential real estate transaction volume that we could facilitate. With our model we capture a portion of that, giving us a TAM well over $100 billion.
The nature of our offerings doesn’t limit us by customer segment or type of market, so our total addressable market is massive.”
How do you plan to deploy this capital?
We plan to expand into new markets. We started 2021 with five markets and ended with 13. We’re also looking to grow our headcount. We’ve already nearly quadrupled headcount since before our Series C. With this growth, we have entered new markets and built a foundation of processes and systems for the business to be able to deliver the consistently amazing experiences we are known for at scale.
We will also ramp up brand marketing. We see massive white space in residential real estate for a brand with emotional resonance. There are great individual agents who have achieved this with their clients, but no company has achieved it at scale. We intend to fill that white space, which means more people need to know about our brand.
In terms of new offerings, we have already made adjustments to our existing fintech products. For example, the Flyhomes Cash Offer used to include incremental transaction costs for clients. Now, we reimburse clients in order to remove a barrier to adoption and drive mortgage attach, or the number of users who finance through Flyhomes. We also are inventing new fintech products, which are coming soon.
Finally, we are extending our reach. We are expanding our offering to third-party agents to use the fintech products we have invented, such as Flyhomes Cash Offer and Buy Before You Sell.
When was your last funding round, how much did you raise and how much funding has your company now raised in total?
We completed our Series A financing round in November 2021. We raised $15 million in that round, bringing our total fundraising to date to approximately $35 million.
Inside Coinme’s mission
Why did your team feel that the time was right to raise a round of funding?
Coinme had just signed a new global agreement with a significant partner who also wanted to invest in Coinme. We also felt that our valuation had increased significantly and that it made sense to bring in additional financing and strategic partners.
We doubled our headcount during 2021 and anticipate a continuing increase during 2022.”
How do you plan to deploy this capital?
Much of the capital raised will be used for operating expenses required to grow our business domestically and internationally. We doubled our headcount during 2021 and anticipate a continuing increase during 2022.
In 2022, Coinme will be launching several new partnerships, and we will also open our first international markets.
