Prof.Estate, a startup developing real estate solutions with its main office in Kyiv (Kiev), has raised a seed-stage financing round from Forum Capital, a London-based investment banking firm, and other unnamed investors. Although the amount of the transaction has not been disclosed, the startup’s CEO Andrzej Olejnik told Ukrainian tech blog AIN.UA that Prof.Estate has been valued at $5 million.
Prof.Estate defines itself as “a real estate promotion and technology company” aiming to “upgrade the industry.” Operating in seven countries, it provides digital-marketing services and technical solutions allowing brokers, home-sellers and real estate developers to lower customer acquisition costs.
The company was founded by Maria Ren (Zakharchenko) from Ukraine, now a Global Business Development Officer at Prof.Estate, and Andrzej Olejnik from Poland, now a CEO at Prof.Estate, in 2013.
With offices in five countries – the UK, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the UAE in addition to Ukraine, – the company has now over 40 employees. A new office will soon open in Singapore.
The company’s regional focus is on the Russian-language countries, the Middle East and North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe. In 2014, only one year after its foundation, Prof.Estate generated over $500 million revenue for its partners.
The money secured from Forum Capital will be used to develop Homsters, Prof.Estate’s online-platform for real estate sales.
“Home-sellers annually spend over $100 billion on brand marketing. However, in many countries, the customer experience they create does not meet customers’ expectations. The launch of the online-platform [with performance-based sales mechanisms] is a natural next step for our business model,” commented Andrzej Olejnik.
