Properly Raises Series B and Partners with Celebrity Scott Brothers

Toronto-based property-tech startup Properly has formed a partnership with real estate TV personalities, Drew and Jonathan Scott. The Scott brothers, known for their TV shows Buying & Selling, Brother vs. Brother, and the Property Brothers at Home, will be investing in the company and using their decades of real estate expertise to help push Properly to new heights.

Properly is a tech-enabled real estate brokerage. Among their array of online tools, unlike traditional brokerages, Properly provides homeowners with a “purchase guarantee”. This sales assurance acts as a firm commitment to sell their home, so that prospective buyers may use it to obtain financing from a financial institution prior to putting their home up for sale. This assurance is underwritten by a $100 million CAD credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank and i80 Group. It provides buyers with the ability to purchase their new home “without having to carry two mortgages, live through showings, or worry about staging and photography.”

Properly’s offerings have proven to be popular with home-buyers. Co-founder and CEO Anshul Ruparell claims that in its short existence Properly has already helped “hundreds and hundreds of home-buyers” buy their dream home. The company has experienced a substantial amount of growth in the last year, with 100% quarterly growth in its revenue-generating products, and 100% monthly growth in its free home search and valuation tools.

Investors have also shown interest in and are optimistic about the future of Properly. In July 2021, Properly raised a $44 million CAD Series B funding round, led by Bain Capital Ventures and included participation from strategic investors such as Intact Ventures and FCT, as well as notable individuals such as Wealthsimple’s Mike Katchen. This round brings Properly’s total equity funding to $60 million CAD.

Properly currently operates in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). It hopes to use this latest round of funding and new partnership with the Scott brothers to break into new markets across Canada. Ruparell says its partnership with the Scott brothers will help establish Properly’s brand and build trust among consumers as the company expands into new markets outside the GTA.

While Properly is certainly a company to keep an eye out for, it is not alone in the property-tech space. Other notable Canadian property-tech startups include Sonder, which has raised $698 million CAD, and Breather with $162 million CAD raised to date. According to a report by Proptech Collective, the effects of COVID-19 have rapidly increased demand for digitization in the property sector and it is anticipated that the property-tech industry will grow substantially in the coming years.

Author: Eran Rubman, 2021/2022 Articling Student-at-law