So far, online real estate site Zillow has raised a total of $87 million. And the latest round came this week: Legg Mason led a financing round for $30 million. Other investors included Benchmark Capital and TCV.
In light of the subprime meltdown and falling housing prices, these investors certainly have lots of guts. Then again, venture capitalists look for mega returns – and this usually means being patient.
As the competition gets squeezed, Zillow will have the resources to expand its offerings as well as improve its brand.
And Zillow's site is getting lots of action. Last month, there were about 4.4 million unique visitors. Although, there is no indication about the revenue levels from Zillow.
Zillow has a massive database that helps provide a rough value of your home (called a Zestimate). But with the weakness in housing prices, it seems like it could be a depressing experience.
If you want to check out other venture capital fundings, click here.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-21-2007 @ 2:22PM
Dennis said...
The investors definitely have guts if you ask me, I have tried using Zillow on occasion, I like the site its got some great features. Buuuut they don't have any information on my town/home so it's useless to me. I use www.HouseFront.com they seem to have a larger database (I haven't found a home not in their system yet). Maybe zillow should take some of that new money and get more data.
9-21-2007 @ 6:52PM
SamTheRealEstateMan said...
Believe it or not, I am one of the
few PRO Zillow.com Real
Estate Brokers. I think it is a great resource for the consumer. I find
customer
who use Zillow.com tend to be easier to work with. Granted not all of
the
information is 100% accurate, but most people realize that and once I
fine to
the data the client actually has little objection. I am currently
looking at
how to integrate Zillow.com in my site. www.samguillen.com
.
Great job Zillow.com you are leading real estate industry down the
right path.
Cheers
Sam Guillen, Broker
Sam Guillen & Associates
www.samguillen.com
9-24-2007 @ 12:07PM
Kelley said...
$87 million in 18 months is quite impressive.
www.lifeat.com/corporate/wp
11-19-2007 @ 11:50PM
Ron Asteak said...
Zillow "Guess-Idiots" appear to rely on public tax records that in some cases haven't been updated in twenty-five years. The zestimator is a sketchy tool to rely on. I believe it's best to use a Professional Appraiser when valuing real estate.