The Trendiest Startup in LATAM? La Haus Gets Backing of Bezos and Others in Fresh Funding Round

PropTech startup La Haus has raised $100 million in funding to continue its drive to digitise and simplify property transactions in Mexico and its native Colombia.  

The latest funding is made up of equal parts debt and equity and comes as an extension to the company's $35 million Series B round closed in January. The latest venture firms to get on board the La Haus journey includes San Francisco-based Acrew Capital and Renegade Partners as well as participation from noted internet billionaires Marc Benioff and Jeff Bezos - names added to a list of backers that already includes Kaszek Ventures, NFX, Trulia’s Co-Founder, IMO Ventures, Zillow’s Spencer Rascoff, Brian Requarth and Hometeam Ventures.

The valuation at which La Haus raised this latest tranche of funds was not disclosed, however, in comments made to TechCrunch, company President Rodrigo Sánchez-Ríos intimated that the value had been significantly higher than the January round.

Founded in the Colombian city of Medellín by former Stanford Business alumni Jeronimo and Tomás Uribe and Rodrigo Sánchez-Ríos La Haus's mission is to digitalise and democratise the opaque world of Latin American property transactions. The company operates a marketplace for new build properties which also serves as a transaction platform for users to progress the sale and ultimately sign everything online.

Despite January's oversubscribed Series B round, La Haus reportedly decided to seek extra funding to pursue the opportunity the company sees in offering financing solutions to medium-sized developers and prospective buyers to further grease the wheels of the domestic housing markets it operates in.

The company also plans to expand within the two countries it is operational in and enter new cities:

“We are going to be very aggressive in Mexico and Colombia, and plan to go from four to at least 12 markets by the end of the year,” CEO Jeronimo Uribe told TechCrunch. “We’re also excited to roll out our financing solution to developers and buyers.”

La Haus is one of a new generation of Latin American real estate marketplaces shaking up the traditional classifieds model to facilitate transactions. QuintoAndar and AoCubo from Brazil, Aptuno in Colombia and Homie in Mexico have all made significant inroads in their local markets in recent years by being disruptive and using technology to cut through bureaucracy - a way of working that is bound to catch the eye of those trendy Silicon Valley investors.