When interest rates were low, the amount of venture capital dollars flowing into the real estate technology space was high. The inverse of that is also proving to be true. As interest rates climbed in recent years, funding to the space plunged.
But now in 2025, as rates have started to lower somewhat, venture dollars raised by real estate tech, or proptech, startups are inching upwards slightly compared to recent years. Capital is largely going to companies that either sit inside core workflows around payments, closings and procurement, or deliver explicit ROI via automation and artificial intelligence. But tech-enabled homebuilders are getting a piece of the pie, too.
The broad trend: Even before the pandemic-fueled funding peaks, proptech startups received more than double the amount of venture funding in 2019 than they have in more recent years. While investors haven’t given up on proptech, funding to startups in the space is only slightly higher in 2025, and deal count is at a multiyear record low.
Notably, private equity firms have been involved in three of the five largest deals in 2025.
The numbers: So far in 2025, global real estate-related startups have pulled in about $10.2 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing, per Crunchbase data — down 57% from 2019, the second-highest year on record after the 2021 venture funding spike. Deal count is down 58.3% in 2025 compared to the high of 2,722 in 2021, the peak of the funding craze. The lower deal count signals both potentially decreased investor interest in the space, as well as larger round sizes.
Noteworthy recent rounds
Several large megadeals have taken place in 2025, many of them in the second half of the year. Unsurprisingly, AI surfaces in more than one deal.
Just this month, Santa Clara, California-based tech-enabled homebuilder Homebound raised $400 million in new financing — $300 million in real estate capital (for the purchase of lots) and $100 million for its operating company. CEO and co-founder Nikki Pechet told Fortune that the company’s goal is to be “the Amazon of homes.”
In its core markets, Homebound claims it is now building homes about 40% faster than its direct competitors, with build costs around 25% lower. It uses a proprietary AI platform that manages millions of data points across more than 1,000 distinct tasks required to deliver a home, from lot acquisition through move-in.
The company says it has grown its topline by more than 4x since 2021, and margin dollars by more than 6x, and is on track to be profitable in 2026.
The startup has raised nearly $530 million in capital since its 2018 inception. Investors include Thrive Capital, Gaingels, Khosla Ventures, Craft Ventures, Forerunner and Goldman Sachs, among others.
In July, New York-based Bilt Rewards, whose platform aims to allow consumers to earn rewards on rent and daily neighborhood spend, raised $250 million at a $13 billion valuation in a round co-led by General Catalyst and real estate company GID. Impressively, that’s up from a valuation of $3.1 billion in January 2024.
The company has raised over $800 million since it was founded in 2021, per Crunchbase data. Other backers include Eldridge Industries, Fifth Wall, Wells Fargo and Camber Creek.
And in August, EliseAI netted a $250 million Series E financing at a $2.25 billion valuation. Andreessen Horowitz led that round, which also included participation from Sapphire Ventures, Navitas Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners. ElisaAI is focused on automating healthcare and housing systems.
The New York-based company has raised nearly $392 million since its 2017 inception, per Crunchbase data. Its products include AI-guided tours, lease audits and a maintenance App designed to lower costs and improve tenant experiences, according to a report by Pymnts.
Adam Wiener, former Redfin executive and current president of digital home finance startup Lower, told Crunchbase News that he believes proptech is “on the precipice of a massive transformation in the next year or two.”
“The benefits of that transformation will accrue to the consumer,” he added. “AI applications will re-make the way we discover, buy, finance, and manage our homes, and there’s suddenly a new opportunity for a next generation of leaders to rise to the top of the proptech industry.”
Other notable raises
There were also a number of other interesting raises in the space over the course of the year that didn’t fall under the megadeal category. Many of their business models revolved on automating tasks as well as giving investors and homebuyers more options when it comes to purchasing or investing in homes.
- In November, Jeff Bezos-backed Arrived Homes, a Seattle-based fractional real estate investing platform, announced $27 million in new funding alongside the launch of a marketplace that it says gives investors a way to buy and sell shares of individual rental homes across the U.S. “with just a few clicks.”
- Tidalwave, a New York-based mortgage tech startup powered by agentic AI, landed $22 million in Series A funding. (Interestingly, digital wealth management platform Wealthfront, which just went public, also entered the mortgage tech space.)
- Ridley, an AI-powered real estate platform based in Deleware that claims to help homeowners sell their homes without “costly” commission fees, announced a $6.4 million seed round led by Fifth Wall.
While there was a small rebound in 2025, it’s difficult to get too excited yet about the real estate technology funding outlook. Many of the biggest rounds were a mix of private equity and later-stage financings. Unless interest rates get meaningfully lower, we should probably expect more of the same in 2026.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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