Savvy Lane is making moves in the crowded field of companies using tech to disrupt traditional real estate practices. The 4-year-old Seattle startup announced this week that it has raised $2 million in a new funding round and plans to expand upon its West Coast footprint.
The funding was led by what Savvy Lane called “a notable public company targeting innovative property tech solutions.” Savvy Lane, which currently has an operations team of eight employees along with about 12 real estate agents, is aiming to triple its headcount and revenue over the next year, it said in a news release.
Founded by husband and wife team Andrew and Beata Miklos, Savvy Lane offers a platform with à la carte services that help clients avoid the traditional real estate broker commission model. The company unbundles what the traditional agent does, CEO Andrew Miklos said, and creates an end-to-end transaction experience, that’s supported, if needed.
“The market is armed with more data, more digital tools and more insight than ever before,” Miklos said. “And still, the transaction experience has effectively remained, ‘one size fits all.’ We change that.”
Real estate tech companies such as Zillow and Redfin have led the way in Seattle, and the high-tech brokerage Compass opened a West Coast hub in the city last year. Compass also raised $370 million this summer.
Miklos likened Savvy Lane’s model to TurboTax and HRBlock, pioneers in the tax industry.
“These companies revolutionized how taxpayers filed taxes,” he said. “They applied technology and transparency, at scale, to provide an affordable, DIY, alternative to a cost-prohibitive CPA.”
In a KING 5 report last year, Miklos acknowledged that Savvy Lane had to pivot to include “listing agent” as a service on the platform to help sellers after previous sellers had an issue pricing their homes too high. That service comes with a one percent commission, much like what Redfin offers.
Savvy Lane currently covers all of Western Washington, Northern Oregon and Northern California. Plans include expansion into Southern California.
