Habi announces US$30 Million commitment from IFC and Victory Park Capital to improve Latin American real estate sector
Press Release
Apr 10, 2024
This partnership follows an extensive review and due diligence process and reinforces IFC, Victory Park Capital and Habi’s shared mission to improve millions of Latin American families’ access to homeownership and all that it unlocks.
Mexico City, April 10, 2024 – Habi (“the Company”), the leading residential technology company in Spanish-speaking Latin America, has closed a US$30 million financing agreement with the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”), a member of the World Bank Group, and Victory Park Capital (“VPC”), a global alternative investment firm specializing in private credit. This investment will further support the Company’s operations across the region, making Habi the first technology platform in the real estate sector to receive the support of the IFC.
Elizabeth Martínez de Marcano, IFC’s Regional Director for Colombia, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, stated: “As a central part of our inclusion strategy for Latin America, IFC supports innovative solutions to boost the development of sustainable, resilient, and affordable housing and expand access to mortgages and housing finance for unbanked, and underserved populations. This new partnership with Habi will not only promote inclusive development by supporting a firm that provides credit solutions to first-time homeowners, but will also improve transparency and access to liquidity for low-and-middle income consumers.”
“We founded Habi to improve the lives of Latin Americans by reducing transaction times and providing trustworthy price transparency across the region. This brings homeownership within reach of working and middle class families who were shut out of a dysfunctional market,” said Brynne McNulty Rojas, CEO and co-founder of Habi. “We are honored that IFC recognizes the social and economic impact that our work provides by creating an efficient residential real estate sector, and has chosen to work alongside us.”
Notably, this transaction is Habi’s second with VPC. The two companies partnered in 2023 with a US$100 million credit facility to support Habi’s continued development of its portfolio of residential products and growth of its used home purchases and sales in Colombia.
Gordon Watson, Partner at Victory Park Capital, said: “The expansion of our partnership with Habi reflects the confidence we have in Habi’s ongoing transformation of the Latin America residential sector. We remain committed to supporting Habi and its industry-leading platform as it continues to propel the growth of the Proptech sector in Latin America.”
Leveraging its propriety database, Habi’s AI capabilities provide unmatched insights on home prices, time on market and more. Habi’s services today — including Market Maker, brokerage, marketplaces, mortgages and home e-valuation — are all supported by continuously improving AI capabilities to give families transparent, accurate pricing and help them close faster when buying or selling.
In addition, Habi’s operations and stakeholder tools are increasingly efficient and effective thanks to the use of AI tools supported by Habi’s own database, including the only AI-driven bot in the region that can make instant offers to potential sellers and negotiate terms and closing agreements on its own.
Marcos Kantt, CFO of Habi, added, “Securing significant backing from the IFC, and continued support from VPC, underscores Habi’s financial strength and strategic positioning to transform the Proptech sector. This partnership goes beyond financial support, reinforcing our mission to drive change across Latin America.”
IFC joins IDB Invest, a member of Inter-American Development Bank Group, and several local and international institutions in supporting Habi’s operations since inception. Continuing to strengthen the Company’s balance sheet, Habi has raised more than US$600 million in equity and debt since its founding in 2019, positioning the Company as the indisputable leader in the space.
Habi’s ability to modernize an outdated and illiquid housing market is powered by the market’s most extensive, and continuously expanding, proprietary database, which boasts over 1 billion entries, alongside an impressive collection of close to 100 million images and tens of millions of other digitized documents. To date, Habi has helped Latin American families transact on over US$1.5 billion.
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About Habi
Habi is building the digital infrastructure to support an efficient residential real estate market in Latin America with the goal of empowering families in the most important financial decisions of their lives. Habi’s market revolutionizing products provide home pricing, unparalleled access to liquidity and improved transaction capabilities to middle-class families.
Habi’s extensive proprietary database, AI-based pricing algorithms and streamlined, tech-enabled operations have positioned it at the center of the real estate ecosystem. Habi provides the information and tools that allow market players – brokers, banks, appraisers, insurance companies, policy makers and more – to make faster, more informed decisions and most importantly, that give families freedom and control over their lives and the wealth they store in homes.
Habi operates in more than 15 cities in Mexico and Colombia, which have a total estimated population exceeding 60 million. For more information on Habi, please visit habi.co/ir.
About IFC
IFC — a member of the World Bank Group — is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2023, IFC committed a record $43.7 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of global compounding crises. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.
About Victory Park Capital
Victory Park Capital Advisors, LLC is an SEC-registered, established credit manager. The Firm was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with additional resources in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London. VPC provides custom financing solutions across the private capital spectrum, focusing on companies with strong corporate governance and a compelling growth trajectory. VPC invests in emerging and established businesses across various industries worldwide. For more information, please visit www.victoryparkcapital.com.
Media Contacts
Habi
Ángela Martínez Lago
IFC
Mauricio González
Victory Park Capital
Jordan Niezelski, Edelman Smithfield