Contxto – Brazilian startup and property matchmaker Kzas is giving investors artificial intelligence (AI) technology worth an investment for US$4 million. This seed round was led by Redpoint eventures.
The startup intends to use the funding to hire additional staff for its real estate managing platform. Equity will also be used to develop its AI and data science (naturally, they want to squeeze out more insights from the oceans of data they receive).
According to the Brazil Journal, these US$4 million should be enough to sustain these projects for the next 18 months.
The property-buying process
So typically when you’re in the market for a house, there are one of two scenarios.
In one, you may hire a broker or realtor to do the property hunting and negotiations for you. This person will try to find places that suit your budget and list of needs. Likewise, they’ll deal with the seller, find out any necessary information regarding the home, etc.
Or, perhaps you’re the “do-it-yourself” type. Since you know what you want, you set out on your own to house hunt and bargain with property owners.
In the first scenario, you might feel pressured by the broker to buy a property because their income depends on it. And perhaps you’re not entirely convinced of the homes they show you.
In the second scenario, you have to be pretty sharp to ensure all the property’s paperwork is in order: that there are no mortgages or taxes due, that the seller is the legitimate owner, the list goes on. All this means you’ll need to do more research that’ll eat up a chunk of your time.
All of this can be especially daunting if it’s the first time you’re buying a home.
That’s where Kzas comes in.
Kzas, a property matchmaker
Roberto Nascimento, Eduardo Muszkat, and Rodrigo Costa founded Kzas in March of 2019. And their platform wasn’t even launched into the market until the final quarter of 2019. And yet within so little time, this proptech has managed to catch the eye of one of Brazil’s most well-known venture capital (VC) firms, Redpoint eventures.
So what’s at play that drew the VC in?
A digital property matchmaker.
Kzas has developed an AI assistant that wants you to find a “property match made in heaven.”
Their concept works kind of like a dating site.
You complete your profile, specify what you’d love your home to have, ideal location, etc. Then, you let the platform’s AI do the searching for you.
Based on what you tell it, the AI will identify and show you the properties that make the best match.
But the help doesn’t stop there.
If you’re convinced you’ve found the “love of your life,” the AI also helps users through the negotiation process to acquire the property. Everything is done anonymously, so users need not even see the homeowner face-to-face when making these dealings.
Likewise, the AI will notify you of anything you need to know about the property. Details that perhaps the owner might not be so upfront about, but of which you should be aware.
Kzas’ AI may offer personalized properties to homeseekers, assuming it can be so fine-tuned. And it’s reassuring that it gives a little more transparency to everything.
But some accuracy rates on these findings would shed additional light on its precision skills. Certainly, its latest investment will help in that direction.
Might this be the end of Property Brothers and House Hunters International? I know some members of my family would be sad to see those shows go.
Related articles: Tech and startups in Brazil!
-ML
