for buying and selling homes. While he says that he was initially unfamiliar with the Latin American market, he became convinced that the Opendoor model could work elsewhere, if left to the hands of a local startup like Loft.
That's why Rampell led Andreessen Horowitz's investment in Loft's $20 million Series A round in 2018 — and why he feels confident enough in Loft's momentum to lead this round, too. "When we invested in Loft, it was just a PowerPoint in a market we didn't understand," Rampell told Business Insider. "But I saw what Opendoor was doing in the United States and it felt obvious that this could work in a country like Brazil. If they can execute on that model there, it will be better than Opendoor for a number of reasons."Among those reasons is the sheer size of the potential market opportunity, Loft founder and co-CEO Mate Pencz said.
A part of that popularity is because US-based real estate sites often require users to comply with American rules and regulations when buying and selling home. Loft, being based in Brazil, only has to follow the local rules. That's helped consolidate the domestic real estate market, especially for house-flippers, under its own banner.
"There are entire shows on the Home and Garden TV network about that kind of thing," Rampell said. "If you have an ugly house in a nice neighborhood, someone will buy it because they think they can sell it and fix it up. Lots of entrepreneurs in the United States do that, and Loft makes that available to Brazilians in Sao Paulo."And that's part of the appeal of investing in emerging markets, Rampell said.
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