Prevu, a New York City-based startup brokerage and platform, just closed a $2 million seed funding round. The round was led by Corigin Ventures, a seed venture firm that’s also backed Compass, Transfix, Latch, ClassPass and Wheels Up.

Prevu, a New York City-based startup brokerage and platform, just closed a $2 million seed funding round. The round was led by Corigin Ventures, a seed venture firm that’s also backed Compass, Transfix, Latch, ClassPass and Wheels Up.

Prevu offers a “Smart Buyer” platform, which gives buyers a commission rebate of up to 2 percent. The platform says it equips buyers with tools and advice to guide them through the early stages of the process while capitalizing on how consumers prefer to interact.

Throughout the entire process, agents are on hand to answer questions along the way and step in to assist with some of the more complicated tasks like scheduling a tour, making an offer, negotiating on the purchase and closing the transaction. The buyer then gets two-thirds of the buyer agent’s commission as a rebate, which has averaged around $23,000.

“The bottom line is that the traditional residential real estate industry is antiquated and inefficient with the majority of agents pulling clients offline at the first opportunity to control the process,” Thomas Kutzman, co-founder of Prevu said in a statement. “Buyers no longer need to rely on agents as the gatekeepers of information, which is available at their fingertips online.”

Kutzman, who co-founded the company alongside Chase Marsh, said the company was created because he and others were incredibly frustrated by their own experiences in buying real estate. So they created what they call a, “truly intuitive model that gives control back to consumers and eliminates a lot of the stress involved.”

“Our Smart Buyer platform was created to address these inefficiencies and provide greater control to buyers while delivering rebates that help to offset the significant expenses involved in purchasing a home,” Kutzman added.

The vast majority of real estate agents spend up to 70 percent of their time trying to find new clients, while only dedicating 30 percent of their time to customer service, according to Prevu. Its platform wants to take that lead generation out of the agent’s hands, so they can focus solely on customer service.

Ryan Freedman, a general partner at Corigin, will join Prevu’s board of directors upon completion of the seed round. Corigin’s first big investment into the real estate brokerage space was Compass, which has ballooned to a valuation of $6.4 billion.

“We’ve had our eyes on this space ever since we invested in Compass in 2012,” Freedman said. “The traditional homebuying process is ripe for change, as buyers are empowered now more than ever to take control into their own hands — especially when it comes to search and exploration.”

Prevu is currently operating in the New York metro area and Connecticut. It plans to use the funding to grow its engineering team, build out its tech platform and expand to new markets.

Email Patrick Kearns

Show Comments Hide Comments
Sign up for Inman’s Morning Headlines
What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments
By submitting your email address, you agree to receive marketing emails from Inman.
Success!
Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines.
Back to top
×
Log in
If you created your account with Google or Facebook
Don't have an account?
Forgot your password?
No Problem

Simply enter the email address you used to create your account and click "Reset Password". You will receive additional instructions via email.

Forgot your username? If so please contact customer support at (510) 658-9252

Password Reset Confirmation

Password Reset Instructions have been sent to

Subscribe to The Weekender
Get the week's leading headlines delivered straight to your inbox.
Top headlines from around the real estate industry. Breaking news as it happens.
15 stories covering tech, special reports, video and opinion.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
It looks like you’re already a Select Member!
To subscribe to exclusive newsletters, visit your email preferences in the account settings.
Up-to-the-minute news and interviews in your inbox, ticket discounts for Inman events and more
1-Step CheckoutPay with a credit card
By continuing, you agree to Inman’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You will be charged . Your subscription will automatically renew for on . For more details on our payment terms and how to cancel, click here.

Interested in a group subscription?
Finish setting up your subscription
×