An agent-to-agent business networking application, Courted.io (Courted), has secured $6 million in funding from a number of backers.
The funding effort was led by Human Capital, and participants included Lakehouse, who led Courted’s pre-seed round, NAR REACH and other angel investors. Funds will be used to fuel general growth initiatives.
Courted was selected as a member of the REACH Class of 2022, a National Association of Realtors-backed business catalyst developed to foster new technology companies in real estate. The company was also named a New Kid on the Block at Inman Connect Las Vegas in 2021.
The app’s purpose is for agents to empower each other through direct marketing of listings, recruiting, community building and referral networking. The software carries out its mission backed by live market data and 15 years of legacy agent performance records, which allow for its algorithms to build rich market profiles for its users. Courted uses market-specific news feeds, direct collaboration, marketing assets and mentorship initiatives to deliver value.
“Courted has launched in South Florida, with 20 percent of full-time agents in Miami-Dade county using the platform,” the company stated.
It reported that its Miami agents represent $9 billion in annual sales volume.
Using its trove of national agent data, Courted discovered critical characteristics that help predict an agent’s career success. Its efforts showed that regardless of sales volume, those agents who consistently closed homes near or at the top of a market’s price threshold had more productive tenures. It also discovered that agents benefit directly by having more successful agents within their “sphere,” which is what Courted was designed to facilitate.
“We have hit significant milestones in our first year, including our launch in South Florida, mobile app deployment, and incredibly positive adoption and feedback from our members,” said Courted co-founder and CEO Sean Soderstrom in a statement. “We believe that agents are here to stay, and this investment in Courted, and strategic alignment with NAR and REACH, demonstrates confidence in our vision to empower the agents at the center of the industry.”
There’s an industry-wide emphasis of late on technology and services that keep agents central to the transaction, a byproduct of the appearance that technology players are circumventing traditional transaction methodology, and the reaction to iBuying. However, most iBuyers use agents to carry out business and no viable direct-to-consumer sales solution has gained any notable traction.
Nevertheless, a strong, internal networking environment can only improve the quality of the transaction and how consumers are served by their representatives.
Tyler Thompson, Managing Partner of Second Century Ventures, said in the release that knowing how to place a value on networking helps Courted’s position in the market.
“Courted understands that networking is essential to an agent’s success,” Thompson said. “This team is building a product that enables agents to collaborate more effectively, which has the potential to transform the residential real estate landscape.”