Lisbon proptech startup CASAFARI raises €5 million in round led by Lakestar

CASAFARI, a fledgling Lisbon, Portugal-based proptech company, has raised €5 million in a seed financing round led by Lakestar and joined by real estate investment fund Round Hill Capital to pursue expansion across Europe.

Proptech is not unfamiliar territory for Lakestar, which has made over 12 real estate tech investments to date, including Airbnb, Opendoor, Cadre, Rhino, Figure and others. It has also invested in the likes of Spotify, GetYourGuide, Glovo, Klarna, GoEuro (now Omio) and Revolut.

Founded in 2018, CASAFARI uses machine learning and big data operations to 'make the real estate market more transparent and efficient' by building the cleanest and most complete database in the world. Thus far, the startup says it has monitored 4 million unique properties and 15 million listings, is actively used by more than 7,000 real estate agents and has grown annual revenues by more than 600 percent.

CASAFARI, which is headed by entrepreneurs Mila Suhareva, Nils Henning and Mitya Moskalchuk, says it will use the proceeds of the funding round to expand its team (currently 70 people), build fresh custom applications and boost its internationalisation efforts.

"Lakestar spotted CASAFARI and its extraordinary founding team and decided to be part of it early on. We believe the unique CASAFARI technology and the database will be the backbone of the real estate industry within the next couple of years," said Manu Gupta, partner at Lakestar, which is making its first investment in Portugal.