Nomad Homes is a start-up platform dedicated to simplifying the process of buying and renting homes. The primary focus is to empower and guide customers by combining technology and industry expertise. The core business model is a transactional marketplace. Buyers and renters are empowered to search, transact, and finance their dream property with essential access to the information and the freedom to purchase their next home across Europe and the Middle East – at no additional cost.
Nomad Homes launched in Dubai in June 2020 and have expanded to Paris, Lisbon and soon Spain as well. Nomad Homes is the one-stop shop in the property buyers’ and renters’ journeys. The vision is a world where anyone can own a home.
Nomad Homes is privileged to have raised over $25 Million of venture capital funding from local and global investors. The former CEO of Zillow, CEO of Open Door, former CEO of Twitter, are some of our investors who have incredible operational expertise in building and scaling technology companies.
Nomad Homes is tailored towards the end consumer. Buying a home is one of the most important personal and financial decisions of a person’s life and we believe that this process should be smooth, seamless and enjoyable.
Nomad Homes want to serve as many buyers as possible so that they can enjoy the experience of buying through us. Buying a home is the most important personal and financial decision of your life and we believe that you truly deserve the best experience.
How it works
Traditionally, the process is tedious and primarily offline. A prospective buyer or renter will contact several agents at a time, then look for a financier for the mortgage and go back and forth between different parties to find and purchase their home. Nomad Homes enables this to happen in one place and streamlines the home buying experience. This is powered by our technology as well as a dedicated Nomad advisor to guide every customer through their journey.
If someone works with both the buyer and the seller, there is an inherent conflict especially when it comes to negotiations. By dedicating Nomad Homes to buyers, they can rest assured that we are on their side.
Being a transactional marketplace is different from what is present in the market today. Primarily, there are listing platforms and brokerages. Listing platforms just handle the search while brokerages only deal with the transaction. Currently, there are no other players who manage the listings and transactions in one place while managing to provide full visibility on financing options.
The technology behind
Nomad Homes is a technology company operating in the real estate sector. This is called PropTech, but Nomad Homes also combine elements of fintech – as buying your home is a financial transaction. Technology is the very core of our business. Half of the team is devoted to developing and advancing the technology of our business.
On most property aggregators there are duplicates, fake listings and some that never see the light of day. Our technology aggregates the data to ensure that the buyer views everything available within their preferences. This gives them the confidence to make their decision, make an offer and complete the transaction.
When Nomad Homes are matching properties to with customers, the listings are aggregated from verified agents and brokers through a shared API feed. The technology simplifies the process and gives more transparency to the end-user.
Nomad’s purpose is to match customers with their dream homes. The core of our technology today is the matching concept.
To start, customers answer a questionnaire so Nomad Homes can understand their preferences. Once completed, all the active properties that fit the customer’s needs are presented to them from our database. This is where its algorithms are working to learn various preferences and suggest the best properties to match what a customer is looking for. They go through matched properties, which are tagged with unique characteristics to understand what works.
It is a curated and customised experience powered by the data science team. This is where machine learning comes into play. We are using each preference to better curate the properties for every future customer that comes onto Nomad Homes.
The culture
An eager attitude to learn forms the core of our business and Nomad Homes are constantly evolving and learning from those around us, as well as from our teammates, internally.
Nomad Homes is meant to serve the buyers in the market who are the end customers. So, whether you are a buyer who wants to live in your home or an investor who wants to invest in a home, Nomad Homes is meant to serve you.
At Nomad, we believe that we can make the real estate industry better for every single participant. The power of belief and great attitude is how the team gets through challenges.
Takeaways from the Co-Founder and CEO
Business model
We only work with the buyer’s side of the transaction, meaning we work for the customer first and foremost. What Nomad Homes provides has not been done before and by streamlining the experience, we are hoping that we can provide a newfound confidence to buyers or investors in purchasing their homes.
Nomad Homes launched right into the pandemic, in June 2020 and fortunately, because we are a technology-driven technology company, we have the tools to work in-person and remote. It felt like a huge dent in our launch plans, but our attitude is what got us through. Now on the other side of the crisis, real estate is thriving, prices are up 30% YoY in Dubai and we have overcome it both as a city and as a company.
The team
The pillars of any business are its people. They are the drivers of success in any company and especially in a start up like Nomad Homes. When you start a company, you need to surround yourself with people who are aligned with the vision and mission of your company and who are in it to build the company.
This is why all of our 75 employees and team members own shares in our company. This is their company, not just mine and the co-founders. That is the mentality that we are looking for to build a great company to serve as many consumers as possible.
I am fortunate to have Dan Piehler, CPO and Damien Drap, COO as my Co-Founders. We are fortunate to have top talent around the world, including a data science team and engineers who develop our technology. Dan comes with experience from Addepar, a unicorn fintech company in Silicon Valley and Damien was previously at Uber Eats as the General Manager for the Gulf region.
Dan, Damien and I have very complementary skill sets. I have a background in finance, Dan in product and technology and Damien in operations. We’re fortunate to be remote-first and global. We have team members around the world and we’re able to attract world-class talent to help build Nomad Homes.
We are strategic about who we bring on as investors. For us, it is all about the value each one brings to the table, which is why we have a lot of CEOs as investors because not only do they have the funds, but they also have domain knowledge either within prop-technology, fintech or adjacent consumer markets. It builds an ideal space for us to learn — the most vital part of building a company.
Innovation
Nomad Homes launched right into the pandemic, in June 2020 and fortunately, because we are a technology-driven technology company, we have the tools to work in-person and remote. It felt like a huge dent in our launch plans, but our attitude is what got us through. Now on the other side of the crisis, real estate is thriving, prices are up 30% YoY in Dubai and we have overcome it both as a city and as a company.
At Nomad, we are students of the game. Our investors invest in technology companies primarily, so we are very fortunate to be mentored by them. Founders help founders so I get inspired speaking to those around the world who have worked or are currently thriving in prop-technology.
When building a technology company, as Nomad Homes is, you absolutely need a technology leader with experience. We’re fortunate to have Dan in the team as one of the Co-Founders, leading the technology aspect of the company.
Woman in the room
Women in technology, real estate and finance is a rarity and to find one that is a Founder and CEO working in a combination of these is incredibly rare. That is changing slowly, and it is not only important for women to support women, but men also need to support women as well.
This start-up is investing in algorithms and analytics to match a buyer’s preference with pre-verified market availability choices.
