Homeward, a startup that enables homeowners to purchase their next property before selling their current one or receive cash offers for their homes, has secured $120 million in Series D funding, Crunchbase News reports exclusively. Saluda Grade, an alternative investment firm focused on asset-backed credit, headed the round, with backing from Continental General Insurance Co., Citi Ventures, Magnetar Capital, Norwest, LiveOak Ventures, Adams Street Partners, Javelin Venture Partners, Harmony Partners, Era Ventures, and First American. The Austin-based company has now pulled in $360 million in equity financing since it launched in 2018, and also arranged a $330 million asset-backed debt facility to support additional home transactions.
Homeward's fundraise arrives as proptech investment shows signs of recovery in 2026, with global real estate startups attracting roughly $12.7 billion in seed through growth-stage capital so far this year, according to Crunchbase data. That pace positions 2026 to surpass last year's total of $12.3 billion, though the sector remains well below its peak: in 2019, the second-strongest year on record after the 2021 venture boom, real estate-related companies raised $24 billion. The company declined to reveal its latest valuation, saying it was comparable to its $136 million Series C round in 2021, when it was reported at just above $800 million. Homeward has collaborated with more than 25,000 real estate agents and completed over $4 billion in transactions since its founding.
Founder and CEO Tim Heyl told Crunchbase News that the company pivoted its business model to serve home sellers who needed to exit quickly, launching its Sell Before You List program in early 2023. "We realized that there's an opportunity to help homeowners sell their home fast without sacrificing all of their home equity like they would have to if they sold to an investor," Heyl said. The program offers cash purchases with closings in weeks, after which Homeward renovates and resells the property, returning profits to the original owner while charging a program fee. Heyl credits the strategic shift with helping Homeward more than quadruple revenue since 2021, even as U.S. home sales dropped roughly 30% by his estimates. John Stepp, who runs Saluda Grade's growth equity fund, said the team's grasp of challenges facing buyers, sellers, and agents differentiated Homeward from similarly positioned competitors.
The pivot came after rising interest rates made Homeward's original Buy Before You Sell offering less attractive to homeowners who might otherwise have upgraded or downsized but stayed put as moving costs climbed. From 2019 through 2022, Homeward concentrated exclusively on helping people buy their next house before selling their existing one, growing quickly in a competitive housing market. But as homes took longer to sell and prices became less predictable, Heyl identified growing appetite for cash offers among sellers who weren't planning to purchase another property. The company reworked its original product as well, reducing costs and simplifying it for a market where homes no longer routinely sold over a weekend with multiple bids. Homeward also uses artificial intelligence to cut manual processing in transaction handling and property underwriting, with large language models extracting data from documents and assisting underwriters in reviewing property videos, photos, and inspection reports for details about roofs, HVAC systems, and overall condition.
The equity capital will fund expansion of Homeward's financing products and technology platform investments, with plans to make the Buy Before You Sell program available nationwide by year-end. The company's distribution strategy centers entirely on real estate agents rather than direct consumer marketing, with some agents white-labeling Homeward's offerings under their own brands while others use the service to unblock transactions when a client's existing home or equity access prevents a new purchase. Homeward generates revenue through a 1% program fee and monthly interest on Buy Before You Sell, a single program fee on Sell Before You List, and its in-house mortgage and title businesses, which Heyl said can simplify the experience while lowering the program fee the company needs to charge. For Heyl, the broader opportunity remains addressing financing and timing problems that complicate home purchases and sales, regardless of market fluctuations: "There's been a major pullback, but it hasn't changed the opportunity that exists to solve problems for buyers and sellers," he said. The model's reliance on agent partnerships as its sole customer acquisition channel could prove either a durable moat or a ceiling, depending on whether commission pressures reshape how agents monetize their relationships with buyers and sellers. Whether returning resale profits to homeowners can sustain margins as the company scales nationally will likely determine if Homeward's investor-friendly pitch translates into a category-defining business.