Startups catering to homebuyers have struggled as interest rates and inflation have risen and inventory shortages persist in many markets.
The latest casualty in space is Reali, who announced that it shutdown has started and will lay off most of its workforce on September 9.
IN press release° Сo-founder and chairman Amit Haller said “challenging real estate and financial market conditions and an unfavorable capital-raising environment” led to the decision to wind down operations.
“Reali was one of the pioneer companies to offer the ‘buy before you sell’ and ‘cash offer’ programs to homeowners,” he said in the release. “We believed deeply in putting the consumer first in every transaction.”
Amit Haller and founded Ami Avrahami Real in Israel in 2016 due to personal frustration as real estate investors with the quality of service provided by agents and the high commissions they pay.
Their goal was to make “the process of buying and selling real estate more transparent, honest and professional.”
The startup advertises that customers can buy and sell in one coordinated transaction, “eliminating unforeseen resales, moving twice and paying off two mortgages at once.”
Since its inception, the company has raised over $290 million in debt and equity funding, according to Crunchbase. His last promotion was $100 million Series B in August 2021 led by Zeev Ventures with participation from Akkadian Ventures, Signia Ventures and others. During this increase the company was reports that it has 180 employees, according to Calcalist’s CTECH. The same publication reported this week that Reali had 140 employees.
In its press release, Reali said this A “small team of employees” will continue to maintain active real estate transactions through the end of the year.
The company added that it is in discussions with companies that have expressed interest in buying certain parts of its business, including mortgage, title and escrow and power purchasing.
Haller and Avrahami also founded another startup, Veev, arreal estate developer turned tech-enabled homebuilder in March raised $400 million in a Series D round this brought the company to “unicorn status”.
Reali is not alone in its challenges. To home recently laid off 20% of its workforce. And Better.comwhich had a host of other problems, laid off thousands this year.