- Home buying company Ribbon announced it raised $30 million in Series B funding and $300 million in debt
Home buying company Ribbon announced it raised $30 million in Series B funding and $300 million in debt. This funding will be used to facilitate the company’s expansion into new markets and accelerate product development efforts. The $30 million Series B funding round was led by Greylock and the debt facility was secured from Goldman Sachs. Along with this facility, Ribbon could potentially receive an additional $220 million upon the satisfaction of certain conditions. And all previous investors, including Bain Capital Ventures, NFX, and NYCA also joined the Series B funding round as did new investor Thomvest Ventures.
Ribbon makes the home buying process easier by enabling homebuyers with an all-cash and guaranteed-to-close “Ribbon Offer” to present to home sellers. And buyers are pre-approved for purchase and home valuations are completed within 24 hours — which makes the offer experience fast, transparent, and predictable.
If a homebuyer cannot close with a mortgage on time, Ribbon will buy and reserve the home on behalf of the homebuyer and lease it to them for up to six months. And sellers and agents also benefit from the process — which ensures a guaranteed and stress-free experience.
So far, home buyers working with Ribbon have increased their chance of having their offer accepted by an estimated 10 times and saved an average of $10,000 in cash discounts and received a 100% on-time closing.
“Homebuyers, home sellers, real estate agents, and lenders are all enthusiastically working with Ribbon to streamline the real estate transaction and deliver a frictionless buying and selling experience,” said Ribbon CEO Shaival Shah. “We’re grateful for the confidence our investors have shown in our business model with this round of funding and excited about the opportunity to bring our products and services into new markets and design new product solutions. We are expanding our platform to help even more families who have homes to buy and sell and families who are buying their first home.”
Currently, Ribbon operates in 8 markets across 4 states, including Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville, Atlanta, Charleston, Greenville, Memphis, and Knoxville. And Ribbon is planning to expand its coverage to 20 markets across 10 states by the end of 2020. Plus Ribbon has increased its employee count to 60 full-time staff.
“Buying a home – especially when you want to sell a current home and level up – can be a frustrating and stressful experience. By bringing technology to the home buying experience, Ribbon makes it much easier for all parties involved,” added Greylock partner Josh McFarland. “Since leading the seed round, the Ribbon team hasn’t slowed down when it comes to innovating, and Greylock is thrilled to continue our support as the company builds new, transformative technology for the real estate industry and expands into more markets.”
Another major milestone Ribbon announced is that it has grown 10x over the last year and increased demand to an annual rate of $1 billion in consumer buying power and registered real estate agents on the Ribbon Platform that represent $12 billion in transaction volume.
“Since our initial investment two years ago, the Ribbon team – which is stacked with talent and industry expertise – has built a solution that removes uncertainty from the transaction, making it easier for buyers, sellers, and agents,” explained Pete Flint, Managing Partner at NFX and founder of Trulia. “Ribbon is proving that superior technology and data plus capital is what it will take to truly transform the real estate industry. As Ribbon continues to expand across the US, buyers and sellers are the real winners.”
Ribbon also released several new product offerings to deliver an even more seamless home buying experience for all parties involved, including tools for new home construction companies, homebuyers using Conventional, FHA and VA insured loans, real estate agents and lenders.
“The real estate market is rapidly evolving as consumer demand drives innovative solutions forward,” commented Matt Harris, partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “We continue to believe that the Ribbon team has the passion, commitment and experience to make a tremendous impact on how people buy and sell homes. By bringing greater fairness and efficiency to the market, they are making homeownership achievable for a broader span of the population.”
