Honest Buildings hits $100M milestone

Manhattan-based Honest Buildings, an online marketplace that connects developers and landlords with engineers, architects and other real estate vendors, has crossed the $100-million mark in projects originated through the site, a spokesperson for the startup told The Real Deal.

To use the network, a developer or landlord submits project details along with criteria for what they’re looking for in a vendor. The site then searches for matches based on those criteria, and produces a short list of qualified vendors. Honest Buildings, which was featured in TRD’s story on “Real estate’s hot new entrepreneurs,”  has seen a surge in activity of late. The site did $55 million worth of business in all of 2013. In the first two months this year, that figure is already up to $45 million.

Clients include Vornado Realty Trust, Sitt Asset Management, and Cushman and Wakefield. Honest takes a commission, typically between 3 and 5 percent, from vendors if they’re hired. The company has raised just under $11.5 million, from investors including Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital, CEO Riggs Kubiak told TRD in February. – Hiten Samtani