Swedish Hybrid Marketplace Norban Raises €2 Million Investment

The Swedish hybrid brokerage and marketplace, Norban has concluded a capital raise worth SEK 25 million (€2.1 million). The funding round was led by Stockholm-based VC firm VEQ, and included participation from investors including Neptunia Invest, Beijer Ventures, Falvir, Tibia Konsult, and Johan Tjärnberg.

According to a press release the money is earmarked for developing the company's tech infrastructure and driving towards profitability.

Founded in 2019, Norban's business model revolves around potential sellers listing their homes on a so-called 'pre-market' where they can gauge interest before engaging Norban's brokerage to handle the sale.

According to the company, the model is proving popular in the Swedish market where costly portal listing fees fall on the vendor rather than the agent.

"Sellers want to optimize their transactions while minimizing risk, and not selling a property at all is their biggest fear. Sellers simply do not want to list their homes in a sluggish market. Through our Pre- Market™, we offer sellers a strategy that combines the security and service of a dedicated broker with the reach of a marketplace. This enables sellers to build a buyer base before entering the open market. In fact, with Pre-Market™, we have managed to sell nearly 50% of properties before they even hit the open market." Per Hedenmark, CEO of Norban said

The potential of the pre-market concept was also what attracted new investor VEQ according to Partner Viktor Gällström:

"When we met the team behind Norban, we were highly impressed with what they had built in just a few years. They are poised to revolutionize an entire industry, which is very exciting, and we believe they are onto something big. We look forward to working with the company and helping reshape the way we buy and sell our homes."

Norban claims to have nearly 50,000 platform users on both the seller and buyer sides and has facilitated transactions with a total property value exceeding 4 billion SEK. The service is available in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö.

Read our interview with Norban co-founder Adrian Miller from 2021