Home selling startup Reali to close its doors

Reali, the San Mateo-based home-selling startup that raised $250 million a year ago in a funding round, will close its doors.

The proptech platform announced it will lay off 140 people on Sept. 9 and shut down by the end of the year, the San Francisco Business Journal reported.

The company blamed the decision on “challenging real estate and financial market conditions and unfavorable capital-raising environment,” according to a news release.

Reali provided a way for customers to buy and sell homes in one coordinated transaction, eliminating the challenge of having to pay two mortgages at once.

The company said that it will retain a small group of workers through the end of the year to continue to support customers involved in active real estate deals. It also said that it is in conversations with companies interested in buying parts of its business, including mortgage origination, title and escrow and “power buying.”

Led by Tyler Baldwin, the proptech had raised nearly $292.4 million since it launched in 2016, according to Crunchbase.

That includes the $250 million Series B round in August 2021 from Zeev Ventures, Akkadian Ventures and Signia Venture Partners. Reali’s $10 million Series A closed in December 2017.

Reali was among many startups trying to shake up a legacy residential real estate market still dominated by local agents and realtors.

“We believed deeply in benefiting the consumer foremost in every transaction,” co-founder and Chairman Amit Haller said. “The six years Reali spent evolving the proptech market in California helped elevate and transform the industry.”

— Dana Bartholomew

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