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See the 19-page pitch deck used to raise $5.5 million for NewHomeMate, a Zillow-like platform for newly constructed homes

NewHomesMate executives in front of a partiall-constructed home.

Newly built homes can be hard to find, even as they become a larger share of available inventory.
NewHomesMate seeks to bring Zillow-style convenience to homebuyers shopping for new construction.
It’s also eying other transactions for homebuilders, including mortgages and homeowners insurance.

New construction is increasingly becoming the best option for many hopeful homeowners because it represents an increasingly large share of the inventory in a market notoriously short on supply.

But finding the right fit isn’t always easy, thanks in part to the old-school practices of most homebuilders.

Only a small fraction of new-home inventory can be accessed online, forcing homebuyers to reach out directly to the sales offices of local homebuilders to see what’s available.

Some potential new-home buyers resort to driving around their aspirational neighborhoods to see what’s being built. Others turn to real estate agents, but few agents are accustomed to the intricacies of new home builds. The process is far from seamless.

It’s a problem that Sofia Vyshnevska and Dan Hnatkovskyy sought to address after they sold their former startup, Brainify, which built software for homebuilders.

“If people want to compare several different builders, they’ll have to request information from each one, wait for a call from a salesperson, and then schedule tours individually,” Vyshnevska said. “It’s extremely hard to stay organized.”

Vyshnevska and Hnatkovskyy launched NewHomeMate (formerly PropertyMate) in 2020, as the housing market was beginning to reach a fever pitch. The idea was to create a website where homebuyers could shop across different homebuilders’ inventory in one place and avoid having to reach out to builders’ sales offices individually.

For now, the company mostly acts as a listing platform, akin to Zillow, and takes a 1% to 3% commission from homebuilders for its help connecting them to buyers. The founders seek to transform it into a platform that can also handle other transactions between purchasers and home builders, including mortgages, titles, closing services, and homeowners insurance. That could lead to bigger fees, or roughly 10% of the home sale price, Vyshnevska said.

Earlier this year, the company announced that it had raised a $5.5 million seed round from funders to expand and grow its vision. The company now partners with 87 of the 100 largest homebuilders in the US, including Lennar, DR Horton, and Pulte Homes, and operates in 10 markets across 3 states.

Despite rising borrowing costs, they are seeing strong demand for the services.

“Many people realized that now is the best moment to buy homes, even with high interest rates, if you see where rent is going across much of the United States, and their only real option is new construction,” Hnatkovskyy said. “And on the other side, you had thousands of builders who were scared of disappearing demand and that really need to sell fast in order to avoid refinancing their construction loans.”

Vyshnevska and Hnatkovsky walked Insider through the pitch deck they used to raise their $5.5 million seed round with some confidential financial information redacted.

The pitchdeck, created before the company rebranded as NewHomesMate, sets the stage with a photo of a housing subdivision.

The company’s three chief executives are showcased on this slide, each with their own proptech credentials.

The company is taking aim at the $400 billion new home construction market, which hasn’t updated its sales process in decades.

The company’s product seeks to bring the convenience of Zillow-style home shopping to new construction.

It aims to help pre-qualify buyers, find them a home, and take a commission from the homebuilders after the customers close on the house.

The company currently takes a fee of between 1% to 3% of the home price, which has netted out to just under $10,000 per transaction so far.

It sees a big opportunity for growth.

Right now, the company gets paid for connecting homebuyers to homebuilders.

It plans to eventually build out a platform that will net it 10% of a transaction, including mortgage, title, closing, and home insurance costs.

At the time of the deck, the company operated in six markets in two states.

In 2022, marketing impressions steadily rose, while monthly home sales on the platform also increased from January to the end of the year.

Revenue and the company’s take rate also grew as the year went on.

This slide provides metrics of the company’s performance as of the end of last year. Most numbers are redacted, but the company’s annualized run rate is not.

This slide, with numbers redacted, shows how the company has become more efficient as it has grown. This is especially important to show investors in this current period of tight purses and high interest rates.

This slide shows the company’s eventual metrics goals, though they are also redacted.

This slide shows the company’s planned growth for the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

The company aims to cover much of the country in its next phase of growth, beginning this year.

This slide restates the company’s mission and lists past investors.

The original version of this slide contained the CEO’s contact information so that investors could reach out, but it was redacted in order to preserve his privacy.

Decomplex

See the 19-page pitch deck used to raise $5.5 million for NewHomeMate, a Zillow-like platform for newly constructed homes

See the 19-page pitch deck used to raise $5.5 million for NewHomeMate, a Zillow-like platform for newly constructed homes

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.

The pitchdeck, created before the company rebranded as NewHomesMate, sets the stage with a photo of a housing subdivision.

The company’s three chief executives are showcased on this slide, each with their own proptech credentials.

The company is taking aim at the $400 billion new home construction market, which hasn’t updated its sales process in decades.

The company’s product seeks to bring the convenience of Zillow-style home shopping to new construction.

It aims to help pre-qualify buyers, find them a home, and take a commission from the homebuilders after the customers close on the house.

The company currently takes a fee of between 1% to 3% of the home price, which has netted out to just under $10,000 per transaction so far.

It sees a big opportunity for growth.

Right now, the company gets paid for connecting homebuyers to homebuilders.

It plans to eventually build out a platform that will net it 10% of a transaction, including mortgage, title, closing, and home insurance costs.

At the time of the deck, the company operated in six markets in two states.

In 2022, marketing impressions steadily rose, while monthly home sales on the platform also increased from January to the end of the year.

Revenue and the company’s take rate also grew as the year went on.

This slide provides metrics of the company’s performance as of the end of last year. Most numbers are redacted, but the company’s annualized run rate is not.

This slide, with numbers redacted, shows how the company has become more efficient as it has grown. This is especially important to show investors in this current period of tight purses and high interest rates.

This slide shows the company’s eventual metrics goals, though they are also redacted.

This slide shows the company’s planned growth for the end of last year and the beginning of this year.

The company aims to cover much of the country in its next phase of growth, beginning this year.

This slide restates the company’s mission and lists past investors.

The original version of this slide contained the CEO’s contact information so that investors could reach out, but it was redacted in order to preserve his privacy.