CALGARY, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ownly—the fast-growth e-commerce PropTech solution for the home buying process—today announced it raised a $2.55 million seed round to support its rapid expansion into U.S. markets. The round was led by Bluesky Equities, with notable participation from NAventures, the corporate venture capital arm of National Bank of Canada as well as Garage Capital.
“With economic uncertainty in the housing market, the affordability crisis is forcing builders and sellers to find new and innovative ways to connect with their customers through cutting-edge technology. Ownly’s platform creates the needed seamless experience for homebuyers and builders,” said Jason Hardy, CEO and Co-Founder of Ownly. “I’m grateful to our investors for trusting our vision, this funding allows us to keep our momentum going at a faster and stronger pace.”
“Ownly’s co-founders have a rare dynamic; it is refreshing to see. Jason is a marketing expert and knows the industry. Ray Yip as the CTO, has the tech knowledge and vision for a great platform,” stated Derrick Hunter, President and CEO of Bluesky Equities. “Having a team that understands its customers is incredibly important to us. Ownly’s market feels right for disruption.”
Since launching in 2020, Ownly has experienced over 100,000 online builds and 4,000 homebuyers in Canada actively shopping for and saving homes through the company’s MyHome Portal. Homebuyers spend more time researching, refining as well as shopping for homes online. Since last year, the average time a user spends online home shopping in a day has increased from eight minutes and 24 seconds to 51 minutes to 23 seconds, an increase of more than 605 percent. With this fresh capital, Ownly can scale its platform and bring a secure, frictionless experience of homebuying into North American markets.
"Jason is a prime example of an entrepreneur who understands the industry and what it needs to truly progress. He saw an opportunity for direct-to-consumer, which is a mentality the industry has been slow to adopt," stated Mike McCauley, Co-founder and General Partner of Garage Capital. "Ownly offers a very promising concept and the existing early customer traction displays serious initial validation. We are excited to partner with Jason and the rest of the team to help evolve and disrupt the industry."
“NAventures, the corporate venture capital arm of National Bank of Canada, is pleased to support Ownly’s vision to modernize the homebuying experience,” offered James Povitz, Principal of NAventures. “Ownly’s white-label solution is nimble and provides multiple benefits to builders and their sales teams. Ownly also empowers prospective purchasers with the information they need to make informed buying decisions and enables a digital purchasing experience that they have come to expect in today’s world.”
Ownly is bringing e-commerce to the real estate industry, creating a frictionless and transparent process for the home buying experience. Often referred to as the “Shopify” of real estate, the state-of-the-art Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform enables its customers to shop, finance and buy new homes online, from any device. Ownly works in partnership with today’s leading ERP, CRM as well as lot management software providers to deliver unprecedented data and analytics into customers shopping behaviors and shopping preferences. Ownly is delivering the future of new home shopping, online.
About Ownly: By creating a frictionless homebuying process, Ownly brings e-commerce to the real estate industry. The platform allows customers to shop, pre-qualify, finance, and buy new homes online, from any device. Working with leading ERP, CRM, and lot management software, Ownly enables easy, transparent online home shopping, while delivering unprecedented data analytics into customer shopping behaviors and buying experiences. Learn more: http://www.theownly.io
About Bluesky Equities: Bluesky Equities Ltd. is a privately-owned, unconstrained, absolute-return focussed investment management company based in Calgary, Alberta.
About NA Ventures: NAventures, the corporate venture capital arm of National Bank of Canada, takes equity stakes in startups and growing businesses to foster growth in companies that will shape the financial institutions of the future. Follow NAventures activities at nbc.ca/naventures.
About Garage Capital: Garage Capital is a Waterloo, Canada-based pre-seed/seed venture fund built by founders and is focused on helping the next generation of entrepreneurs build category-defining businesses through experienced-based advice and early-stage risk capital. To date, Garage has invested in over 100 companies, with a collective valuation of $20B+. More: www.garage.vc
