FlyHomes, a real estate and technology company that's on a mission to help buyers win in sellers markets today announced it has completed a $2 million Series A round of venture financing and raised an additional $2 million of debt financing. Mark Vadon, the serial Seattle entrepreneur behind Blue Nile and Zulily, led the investment round, with participation from existing and new investors Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Al Goldstein, the CEO & Co-Founder of Avant.

This is FlyHomes first round of outside equity financing, having bootstrapped its growth to date. This venture and debt financing will help FlyHomes rapidly expand its marketing efforts, accelerate product development, and continue to improve home buyers chances of winning offers when working with FlyHomes. Mark Vadon, will join FlyHomes Board of Directors.

The Series A financing builds on a foundational year in 2017 for FlyHomes, which has helped buyers win ~10x more homes than in the year prior, key team hires, market expansion, and solidifying its place among home buyers as one of the top residential real estate companies in Seattle, the leading market for technology-enabled real estate startups.

"Rising home prices make it increasingly difficult for homebuyers to purchase a home and millennials are increasingly demanding new and flexible solutions," said Mark Vadon. "FlyHomes has built a great offering at the nexus of fintech and real estate, and I see the passion and grit in Steve and Tushar to make FlyHomes a real game changing success. I'm thrilled to collaborate and support them as they continue to pursue their mission of 'helping buyers win'."

"Most real estate startups have focused on 'discounting' their service when trying to disrupt the real estate industry," said Tushar Garg, Co-Founder and COO at FlyHomes. "We realized early on that we could provide much more value to consumers by taking a team-based approach and leveraging the balance sheet of our company to help home buyers win, in what are the most competitive buying markets in the US. It's incredibly hard to win in multiple offer situations in markets such as Seattle and San Francisco, especially without overpaying. Despite many buyers trying for more than a year to purchase homes with an agent, our clients are winning homes in less than 2 offers on average."

Key Benefits of FlyHomes Home Buying Experience:

Innovations: 7-day closes, on-demand home tours, earnest money guarantees, pre-offer home evaluations. Our technology, partnerships, and operational speed enable our clients to win more often and at a lower price.
Subject-Matter Experts: Every client has a dedicated local expert that's working alongside subject matter specialists that have backgrounds that range from Harvard grads to structural engineering that specialize in research, negotiations, software engineering, and operations.
Incredible Rewards: Lyft credits for home tours, miles for your entire house purchase, or no closing costs. Our rewards return incredible value without discounting our service.
"We're just scratching the surface of the innovations we can bring to potential homebuyers that are making what is often the largest and most important financial decision of their life," said FlyHomes Chief Executive Office and Co-Founder Stephen Lane. "Over the past two years, we've focused on making buying transparent, seamless, and fun. This approach has helped change over 300 people's lives, and we're just getting started. Adding Mark as a mentor, investor, and board member, will be crucial as we look to execute on our vision to rapidly improve one of the frustrating experience of buying a home in a sellers market. Mark's leadership, experience, and presence in our board room, is more valuable than any size of venture check we could have pursued."

About FlyHomes

FlyHomes is a real estate and technology company that's on a mission to help buyers win in sellers markets. FlyHomes' has a built a buyer's platform that is fueled by operational innovation, subject matter expertise, and incredible rewards. Going against the "generalist" model of traditional real estate brokerages, FlyHomes' has a technology inspired team-based approach to real estate, providing every client a dedicated local expert that works alongside specialists in pricing research, negotiations, marketing, touring, and software engineering. FlyHomes technology, partnerships, and team-based approach allows homebuyers to take on-demand tours, close within 7-days, and regularly win offers more often and at a lower price than using a traditional real estate firm.

About Mark Vadon

Mark Vadon is one of the country's leading internet retailing entrepreneurs. In 2009, Mark co-founded Zulily, Inc., a daily deals site for moms, babies and kids, and served as the Chairman of its board of directors until Zulily was acquired by Liberty Interactive Corporation in 2015. In 1999, Mark founded Blue Nile, Inc., the leading online retailer of diamonds and fine jewelry, and served as the Chairman of its board of directors from its inception through 2013. During Blue Nile's history, Mark also served as its Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. Mark was an early investor and Chairman of the board of directors of Chewy, the largest internet retailer of pet supplies and food. Currently, Mark serves on the board of directors of Home Depot, Liberty Interactive, and FlyHomes.