Just days after announcing another $115 million in financing, San Francisco real estate company HomeLight announced a layoff of 19% of its workforce. HomeLight is the latest in a string of real estate and mortgage companies that announced massive layoffs amid a rise in interest rates and spooked housing consumers.
A company spokesperson provided the 19% figure but did not disclose how many employees the business was letting go. Two laid off employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, put the figure at around 200 pink-slipped workers, a number HomeLight neither confirmed nor denied.
The layoffs were “across functions and levels throughout the company,” the spokesperson said. “We aren’t pivoting our business. We are laser-focused on providing tools, technology, and services to power the businesses of top agents across the country – and ensuring that real estate is as simple, certain, and satisfying as possible for their clients.”
HomeLight made public it was reducing its head count on LinkedIn this afternoon, but did not disclose the layoff’s extent.
In one sense, the layoffs might not come as a surprise. HomeLight bills a business model of consumer-friendly technology to connect home sellers with real estate agents. The company also matched sellers with investors interested in making cash offers on single-family homes.
So, HomeLight is in the same phylum as Sundae, which laid off 15% of its workforce in the past week, and so-called power buyers Orchard and Knock that have also laid off employees of late.
However, the news comes less than two weeks after HomeLight announced it raised $60 million in capital and $55 million in debt financing. HomeLight stated that the fundraise put the company’s market valuation at $1.7 billion, and raised its fundraising total to $645 million.
HomeLight CEO Drew Uher told TechCrunch on June 16, “This fundraise and acquisition allows us to play both offense and defense, expanding our business while also positioning the company to weather uncertainty this year and into next year.”
HomeLight was founded in 2012 with start-up money from Google Ventures.