Home-Link@ secures $25M in additional financing

Real Estate Weekly, Oct 11, 2000

Home-Link@ Services, Inc., a provider of Internet-enabled software for residential real estate brokers, announced that it has completed a $25 million second round of private financing. Proceeds from the offering will be used to develop new products and services, complete the development of a national call center for small to medium-sized brokers, and hire the necessary support staff

The financing was provided by Canaan Partners of Rowayton, Conn., a national venture capital firm, which specializes in early stage venture capital for Internet technology, e-commerce and life sciences companies, Whitney & Co. of Stamford Conn, a manager of alternative assets, and Trilon Inc. Home-Link@ previously raised $12.5 million in initial funding in late 1999, in which Whitney & Co. was the sole investor.

Home-Link was developed and introduced by major residential brokerage firms to provide home buyers and sellers with personalized service, convenience, and savings for all of the activities and transactions associated with home purchases, sales, and homeownership.

Home-Link brokers introduce each customer to a personal move coordinator, who works with the customer to schedule all moving-related activities and arrange everything from home inspections to home warranty services to purchasing appliances and making certain that utility connections are in place. Home-Link's personal move coordinators use highly specialized software to work with national and local product and service partners to offer customers a choice of competitively priced products and services from qualified suppliers. Home-Link's Internet-enabled software allows its customers to control all aspects of the moving process through a personal portfolio on Home-Link's web site that maintains homeownership papers, records of all of their purchases, and measures the savings received from using Home-Link's marketing partners.

The Portfolio can also be used for secure record keeping of homeownership papers and expenses for tax and accounting purposes. While most homeowners begin their relationship with Home-Link at the time of a sale or purchase, many are expected to use Home-Link for as long as they remain homeowners.

Participating brokers, at the time the company launched its national web site in July, included Arvida in Florida-based markets, Baird & Warner in Chicago, William Raveis Home-Link in Connecticut, Northside Realtors in Atlanta, Daniel Gale Real Estate on Long Island, Henry S. Miller Company in Dallas, Prudential Northwest Properties in Portland, Real Estate One in Farmington, Howard Hanna Real Estate in Pittsburgh, First Team Real Estate in Costa Mesa, Allen Tate in Charlotte, The Furman Company in Greenville SC, Gertrude Gardner Realtors in Metairie LA, Meybohm Realtors in Augusta GA, Lyons & Associates Realtors in Sacramento, Patterson-Schwartz in Delaware, Perry & Butler in Denver, Ruhl & Ruhl in Iowa, Shorewest near Milwaukee, Sibcy Cline in Cincinnati, Smyth Cramer in the Cleveland area, Hunt Real Estate Corporation in the Buffalo area, Fonville-Monsey in Raleigh NC and Tomie Raines, Inc. in Lansing, Michigan.

Home-Link Services, Inc. is based in Shelton, Conn.