The amount invested corresponds to half the total amount raised and seeks to finance the start of its operations in Chile, and growth in the region.
Manutara Ventures opted to transform the construction industry through technology. The Chilean early-stage venture capital fund with operations in Silicon Valley and Miami, invested US$300,000 – half of the total round – in the startup BuildLovers, with the aim of boosting its technological development and the start of operations in Chile.
The focus is also on how to reach customers once the platform is launched and building alliances with financial entities.
The digital platform, which already operates in Spain, has sold more than 20 homes since its launch and has more than 75 projects in the pipeline .
BuildLovers is a technology company that seeks to connect the different actors that participate in the home construction process such as builders, architects, land specialists, financial entities, among others.
The connection between both entities of the entrepreneurial ecosystem occurred thanks to the fact that the startup made the first approach.
“For our part, we were able to observe, thanks to an investment in fund I, that there is a certain difficulty in acquiring homes at a reasonable price and in an adequate time, a problem that BuildLovers helps to solve and, on the other hand, that the construction industry Customer-facing construction has had very little technological innovation,” says Nicolás Moreno, Portfolio Manager at Manutara Ventures.
For his part, José Manuel Martínez, CEO and co-founder of BuildLovers, mentions that “we have high regard for Manutara Ventures, a venture capital fund with a solid reputation in supporting innovative projects and visionary entrepreneurs. They understand the importance of collaboration and mutual support in the technology industry. Our paths crossed thanks to close experiences and connections.”
Regarding the factors that led them to finally invest in BuildLovers, Martínez states that "the team is fundamental for any investment, so this is a key criterion for us and we believe that the founding team of BuildLovers meets what is necessary to run this startup to the next level.
On the other hand, the validation of the model is very relevant because this fund seeks to invest in companies with a little more maturity, which goes hand in hand with the traction achieved to date, which was quite auspicious considering that the technology was in its “mvp” stage (minimum viable product) to be able to go out and validate the model. That the model was validated at the time of investing is something very positive for us," adds Moreno.
Regarding return expectations, he mentions that “It is a quite difficult question, but we expect at least x20 of the investment. What we can say is that at Manutara Ventures the policy of looking for profitable businesses from day 1 predominates, which is why we focus on startups with businesses that allow us to scale without sacrificing the ability to generate profitability and that truly generate value for society. ”.
And José Manuel Martínez adds: “Manutara's investment is crucial for BuildLovers. It gives us the opportunity to have institutional investment and therefore is a significant platform to enter the Latin American VC market. “Not only does it provide us with the necessary financial resources, but it also opens doors to new opportunities and connects us with a network of valuable professionals and experts.”
NEXT GOALS
What the company seeks is to achieve greater autonomy through technology, start of operations and sales growth in Chile and Spain. For later, the expansion of the operation throughout Latin America or the United States from Chile is already being studied.
“In the short term, our main objective is to establish a solid presence in Chile, using this market as a starting point or hub for our future expansion. In the long term, we seek to consolidate ourselves in the Latin American market and continue innovating in the sector of industrialized and personalized home construction,” says José Manuel Martínez, CEO and co-founder of BuildLovers.
“Our goal is to be the first option for all families who want to build their home with a simplified, agile, transparent and safe process through our platform specialized in real estate self-promotion,” he concludes.
It should be noted that today, Manutara Ventures has a notable portfolio of startups , such as Xepelin, ETpay and OpenCasa: their combined valuation exceeds US$ 1 billion. With this, Manutara's portfolio is worth more than 10 times the initial investment.
