HomeLight

The real estate sector has had inefficiencies, lack of transparency, and antiquated practices that make buying and selling homes more complicated for consumers. Consumers want faster, smarter, more trustworthy ways to engage with real estate and here it’s technology that’s helping to solve the issue.

HomeLight, founded and led by Drew Uher, is leading this transformation. Te firm leverages data science and AI-powered insights to engage with buyers and sellers across the entire real estate journey, streamlining the transaction process from finding a reputable agent to closing. The products offered by HomeLight allow buyers and sellers to make more informed decisions, ranging from agent matching, home trade-ins, cash offers, and digital closing. Given that this consumer segment tends to be very much on-the-go, and tech-savvy millennials tend to place more value on convenience, innovation, and certainty, this substitute is appealing. The company relies on millions of real estate transactions to identify top agents, who can give users a significant advantage in competitive environments. The firm’s offerings extend beyond agent matching solutions; "Buy Before You Sell" or "Simple Sale" are examples of programs offered by HomeLight that provide added value and reduce friction across the transaction process. "Buy Before You Sell" gives homeowners the ability to purchase a new home before selling their existing home, which alleviates contingencies while giving them even the opportunity to buy without using an agent. Similarly, "Simple Sale" offers consumers an instant cash and no-obligation cash offer for their home - they don't want to have to worry about listings, repairs or showing the homes. HomeLight Home Loans offers additional financing solutions with incredibly fast approval times to tackle one of the biggest pain points for all buyers. Their Title & Escrow service offers integrated title and escrow services to create smooth and digital closings with little delays. These end-to-end solutions are all a part of the firm’s mission of helping people make smarter real estate decisions through the use of data and technology.

Since founding in 2012, the company has grown tremendously, and plans to continue the mission. In 2025, HomeLight has evolved into over 700 employees and is expanding in more than 40 major U.S. markets, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Dallas, Tampa, Denver, Atlanta, Seattle, and Charlotte. The firm has also opened important operational headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona and Boulder, Colorado, which bolsters their growing business as they continue to scale across customer and partner verticals. HomeLight has successfully executed over $3 billion of real estate transactions each of the last couple years, making it a leader in the proptech ecosystem. HomeLight’s pricing and compensation method stems from a transaction-based structure that scales to variance in market volume. The main source of revenue for the firm is a referral fee when clients are matched to real estate agents, which is most often a percentage of the agent's commission at closing. The company also earns revenue through service fees earned directly from its Title & Escrow services, and through origination and interest from its mortgage lending business. Unlike an iBuying platform that relies on owning and redeveloping properties, HomeLight takes an asset-light approach that limits financial exposure, enables large profit margins, and allows for the monetization of multiple aspects of the real estate journey while guaranteeing predictability in pricing and transparency for its users.

The company has raised over $645 million in venture capital, including $100 million in their last Series D round in 2021 from Zeev Ventures, along with participation from Menlo Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Citi Ventures, Group 11, and Foundation Capital. With this funding, HomeLight achieved a valuation of around $1.7 billion, attaining unicorn status.  Further, the firm does not report net profits publicly, but analysts note that they pulled in upwards of $300 million in revenue for 2022 and while they are most likely not operationally profitable as of the time of release and this blog being written, internal sources note that they are approaching operational profitability, as they have strong growth in their high margin services and disciplined unit economics. While profitability has been challenging for many widespread real estate tech startups, HomeLight's unique business model around commissions and service fees have enabled them to scale more responsibly. In 2023, the firm cited reduced losses and strong contributions margins from their escrow and mortgage divisions. HomeLight is in a strong position to attain profitability by the end of 2025, due to continued cost optimization and continued high demand for their services.

The company faces a highly competitive environment filled with severe competitors across both tech giants and aggressive start-ups. Key competitors are Zillow, Opendoor, Redfin, and Compass, which each offer their own flavors of buying, selling, and financing real estate. Zillow is primarily focused on property listings and lead generation. Opendoor is focused on iBuying (buying homes directly for resale). Redfin operates as a full-service brokerage with salaries agents. Compass attempts to augment high-end real estate with technology. As an enabler of agents, HomeLight's agent-first model defines it. The firm does not replace agents, instead they provide agents data insights and client-matching technology. Similarly, the firm does not carry any property inventory, relieving it of the capital burden of iBuying. HomeLight has designed its model to be flexible, modular, and highly scalable. Moreover, a growing portfolio of services (cash offer, Home Loans, Title & Escrow) currently permits them to operate as for real estate transactions, which creates a competitive moat that is difficult to reproduce.

Moving forward, HomeLight plans to build out adjacent fintech and proptech services such as embedded insurance for home buyers and home renovation loans, as well as tap into international markets as well as additional A.I. capabilities. CEO Drew Uher has the right outlook stating, "We want to build a future where buying or selling a home is as predictable and effortless as any other modern transaction." HomeLight is well positioned to not only respond to change in real estate but to drive it. Having increasing revenues, decreasing losses, and a clear plan, they are on a path to be a beacon for the real estate ecosystem. As real estate ebbs and flows, HomeLight's position as a technology, trust, and transactions platform will surely help chart a forward course for real estate shopping and buying.

Click here to access HomeLight's website.