Can you introduce Houser in a few words?
At Houser we provide tools and real-estate market analysis to professionals so they can perform their day-to-day tasks better. Real-estate agents will have tools to enable them to sell properties faster and for a better price. Banks will have tools to help with operations, ensure compliance to new regulations, and monitor for real-estate market risk.
Buyers and renters can already benefit from our service by logging into our website.
What’s the story behind the idea?
When I moved to Luxembourg I began looking to buy property but I was really frustrated with the information available – or rather the lack of. So I created a system to gather information, and together with Kevin Colgan, my co-founder, we created a website to provide this information to other buyers and renters.
Now we’ve built upon our existing system to create a new platform, called HouserLoop, directly targeted for professionals and providing them with the tools and services they need.
What is the added value of Houser compared to existing solutions?
Right now it’s difficult to get good information on the real-estate market in Luxembourg. The data available is typically published 3 months after the fact and it’s overly general.
We partnered with real estate agents to be able to get really precise information about what’s happening in the market. With our system it will be possible to see the price difference between a two-bedroom apartment on one street to a similar apartment on another street. So we provide professionals with the most accurate and comprehensive information and it’s all available in real-time.
Why Luxembourg?
I’m from Canada, I came to Luxembourg because my wife got a job here. We had the choice to continue living in Canada or go for the European adventure. Needless to say the adventure won. Kevin is from Ireland and much like my situation he moved here when his wife received a job offer in Luxembourg.
I love Luxembourg, personally. It has the big city feel that you want but is still very small, you have the city convenience but you don’t have the traffic. You can walk everywhere. It’s really great! The weather, not so much, but everything else I really like. I started biking in Luxembourg because it’s probably the best way to discover the country.
Tell us more about the fund raising.
It is a long process! I would never have expected it to take that long. I think it is challenging in Luxembourg to raise funds, and I would like to thank everyone who helped us, especially Nicolas Valaize at nyuko. His help was crucial in refining our presentation and how we approached investors to send a clear message.
We participated in Seed4Start, powered by nyuko, and also in the Fit4start programme from the Luxembourg government. Both programs helped us in different ways: the first one for raising funds, and the second one to have a much clearer business case.
We recently finished raising the funding we needed: a total of 250,000 euros. Of course, once we had agreed on the figures it was time to focus on the details of the shareholders agreement. With lawyers involved there was a lot of back and forth with revisions. Thankfully Nicolas was able to give us great advice on how deals are structured and avoiding typical pitfalls for an entrepreneur raising funds.
What are the next steps?
We’re continuing development of the new platform for real estate agents and on boarding a select group of real-estate agents for testing. We’re also looking to launch a pilot project with a bank later on this year. With access to up-to-date detailed property information and a transparent process for property valuations we trust our solution will provide a real added value to banks.
The next step is to expand into Germany!
Do you have a news to share?
Yes! We are looking to hire a senior developer. Knowledge of Python is important and Java is a nice to have. We’re primarily looking for someone who can help us with web development and tackle and improve on our machine learning algorithms. So if you’re interested to work at a startup and want to solve some really fun challenges feel free to send us an application at jobs@houser.lu!
The whole point is to expand out of Luxembourg and start taking over Europe!
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