Proptech Firm Agora Closes $34M Series B Funding Round
Israel-based real estate investment management platform attracts investors despite high interest rates and the war in Gaza
By Philip Russo May 16, 2024 11:00 am
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Neither high interest rates nor the war in Gaza is stopping the growth of Israel-based real estate investment management platform Agora, which announced Thursday that it closed a $34 million Series B funding round.
The Series B round was led by Israel-based growth fund Qumra Capital, along with Insight Partners and Aleph. The latest funding follows a $20 million Series A raise in 2022 and a $9 million seed round in 2021.
Currently operating in North America, Europe and Israel, the Tel Aviv-founded proptech company will use the new funding to expand its Manhattan-headquartered U.S. operations, as well as to grow its global footprint, said Bar Mor, the CEO and co-founder of Agora. In addition, that expansion will include its product offerings in operational and financial services such as payments, taxes, IRA investments and liquidity solutions.
“The past two years were difficult for both the tech industry and also real estate with the high interest rate environment,” said Mor. “We managed to double our valuation from the previous round in a time when most companies that I know of are doing down rounds.”
Founded in 2019, Agora has achieved threefold revenue growth year-over-year, according to the company. It is seeing 80 to 85 percent of its growth in the U.S., which is the company’s prime target market, but plans to expand into Australia and Latin America as well, Mor said.
Even as Agora’s client growth has attracted investors despite high interest rates, the war in Gaza presents another challenge for the startup.
“We’ve managed to really show resilience through all the challenges,” said Mor. “Last quarter was our best quarter ever, so I think it really shows that the company is resilient. Although we had employees that went for reserve duty, we managed that process and our customers haven’t felt anything. And I think that we received great support that we are super thankful for from our customers.
“If you speak about investments, VCs, I’ve personally felt that, yes, it has some effect, which is reasonable. If I was an investor, I would also consider that,” he added. “But, overall, both customers and investors also want you to continue to execute.”
Agora provides its clients with tools to streamline operations and enhance efficiency, including through optimizing investor relations, automating reporting, and simplifying fundraising processes, according to the company. As a software and advisory company, Agora helps real estate firms manage more than 70,000 investors and $150 billion assets under management across every asset class.
“Agora’s visionary approach, exceptional leadership and market expertise, combined with their transformative solutions, have significantly reshaped the real estate investment landscape,” Sivan Shamri Dahan, managing partner at Qumra Capital said in a statement. “Having followed their progress over the past couple of years, we’re particularly excited to lead this funding round as we believe in Agora’s potential to become the industry’s standard. Agora represents the new generation of startups that grew rapidly but efficiently during the global downturn and are now ready for their next massive expansion phase.”
Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.