Sawbuck Gets Bucks from VCs for HomeSnap

Washington, D.C.-based Sawbuck Realty just closed a $3.5 million round from Revolution Ventures and Robert Stewart, a Washington, D.C., based investor. The funding will go to continue to develop the company’s technology, including HomeSnap, an lifestyle app that allows users to track real estate. Specifics of the round were not specified.

PRESS RELEASE:

WASHINGTON, DC –08/06/12 — Sawbuck Realty (www.sawbuck.com), “Shazam for Homes,” today announced that it has closed its latest funding round for a total of $3.5M from Revolution Ventures and Washington, DC real estate investor Robert Stewart. The close of the funding round comes on the heels of an exciting quarter for Sawbuck, in which it won TechCocktail’s “Most Innovative Technology” award for the launch of its free HomeSnapapp at SXSW and saw it quickly become one of the top lifestyle apps available on the iTunes store. With more than 200,000 downloads since its launch, HomeSnap allows users to simply snap a picture of any home in the U.S. to find out all about it. Last week, HomeSnap was awarded the “Most Innovative Mobile App” at Inman’s prestigious Real Estate Connect conference.
As Shazam is for music, HomeSnap is for houses — providing a unique and effortless experience for the merely curious or the serious house hunter. HomeSnap’s patent-pending technology employs multiple iPhone sensors, and proprietary advanced algorithms to identify each home and then instantly provide consumers with detailed information about the home simply by snapping a photo. Information comes from Sawbuck’s unique blend of big data, including tax records, MLS data, school information, and attendance zones, Census demographics, neighborhood information, lot boundaries, geolocation data, and more. This is a sharply different approach from existing real estate search apps, which are designed just for active home buyers.
“HomeSnap has the potential to transform real estate discovery,” said Tige Savage, Managing Director of Revolution Ventures. “We have been following Guy and the Sawbuck team for over a year and have been impressed by the team’s vision to disrupt the real estate market and their ability to execute.”
The funding will be used to expand the HomeSnap development team, add additional features and build out the web ecosystem to complement HomeSnap’s mobile-first approach. The company is working on Android and iPad versions of the app and developing ways to apply the functionality to condos, co-ops, rentals, and other categories.