Welcome Homes, a New York City-based Proptech company that delivers luxurious homes at a guaranteed price in just a few clicks, is announcing today that it’s raised more than $29M in Series A funding led by Era Ventures. The new funding will be used to hire talent to further develop Welcome Homes’ proprietary land technology, design new home models, and expand into new markets throughout the U.S.
“Welcome Homes is a one-stop-shop for building the perfect home. You get this beautiful house that you can design online, and six months after permitting, you have it in real life without necessarily having to be really involved with the process,” said customer Daniel S., who built his vacation home in Woodstock, New York, using Welcome Homes.
Housing development has not kept pace with population growth. The availability of homes is shrinking, with the U.S. Housing Market under-supplied by more than 5.5 million homes. Welcome Homes has built a tech-first platform that makes building on teardowns and vacant lots scalable. Home buyers and real estate investors can now gain access to thousands of pre-vetted and price-locked properties and start building beautiful new homes with a few clicks.
“Welcome Homes addresses the massive shortage of housing by productizing and accelerating the delivery of beautiful new homes,” said Alec Hartman, Co-Founder & CEO of Welcome Homes. “We should be building for the world that we want to live in. We are elevating the standard for how new homes are built, which will fundamentally change peoples’ lives.”
This funding round was led by Era Ventures and included participation from Parker89, Montage Ventures, Foundamental, Global Founders Capital, Activant Capital, Gaingels, Elefund, and Arkin Holdings. In conjunction with the funding, Clelia Warburg Peters, Managing Partner at Era Ventures, will be joining Welcome Homes’ board of directors. Peters brings an incredible network and experience from the real estate and venture industry, having served as the President of Warburg Realty (now Coldwell Banker Warburg) and as a Partner at Bain Capital Ventures.
“We founded Era as a platform to support visionary founders who are disrupting outdated real estate business models and creating new systems,” said Peters. “By recognizing that homes are the ultimate consumer purchase and streamlining the process of building a custom home, we believe that Welcome Homes can be a transformational company in the home building space. We are so proud to partner with them as the first lead check for our fund.”
Welcome Homes was founded by the DigitalOcean co-founding team, and the company has hired real estate industry veterans from Compass, Toll Brothers, and HGTV. Since launching in early 2021, Welcome Homes is on pace to grow sales exponentially year-over-year in Northeast markets, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
About Welcome Homes
Welcome Homes is an online home building platform that creates a more seamless and price-transparent process to deliver exceptional single-family residences. Welcome Homes offers guaranteed pricing and will completely streamline the entire process, from land selection to customization to financing and construction. It is currently available in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Welcome Homes will soon be in areas around the U.S. For more information, visit www.welcomehomes.com.