on startups focused on financing specific parts of the homebuying and homeowning process. The report separates these companies into two groups: companies that have developed ways to free up home equity and those that offer products to fractionalize homeownership.
The categories are somewhat nebulous, as almost all of the companies offer somewhat different approaches to similar end goals, but they show how startups are attempting to carve out a place in almost every part of the financial process of home ownership. The home equity category compares companies across three different mechanisms: HELOCs ; equity sharing, reverse mortgages and refinance; and rent-to-own or lease-back programs., which allow a homeowner to borrow money against the value of their house. The third category allows potential homeowners to put their rent towards equity in a home, or allows them to sell their ownership.
The home ownership category only has four companies in it, and each is different enough that they can't be compared across different categories. We break out each company below. A majority of the information comes from the CB Insights report, and we've supplemented the data with background on the companies.