From Helmuth Fuchs
Moneycab: Mr. Kobelt, at the beginning of the year you took over the role of CEO at Houzy from co-founder Stefan Schärer. What have been the most important decisions you have made since then, how has the role changed your everyday professional life?
Marco Kobelt: The formal change was in February, operationally the change was gradual because I was allowed to take on more and more tasks and responsibilities from Stefan. Psychologically, as CEO, I certainly feel a bit more responsible for the whole company, at the same time, of course, it is also a nice recognition for the work I have done.
«All tools are free for our users. We finance the platform with partner recommendations at the right time in the right place. ” Marco Kobelt, CEO Houzy
We continue to focus on Switzerland because we see a lot of potential here. In addition, we are tackling large new markets for our home ownership, for example mortgages, insurance and real estate sales.
What are the most urgent projects that are currently at the top of your priority list?
On the one hand, we are expanding our mortgage and insurance offerings. Homeowners can now compare mortgage models, terms and interest rates from different providers online and receive three tailor-made offers in five minutes. In addition, you will soon be able to analyze your insurance and adapt your insurance coverage to your needs. At the same time, we are developing the most advanced property search in Switzerland with direct links to our online tools. A permanent project is the ongoing optimization of the home owner journey so that users regularly visit their Houzy profile and take our partners into account when, for example, a renovation is due.
Houzy has grown rapidly in the niche market for digitally savvy homeowners and now has over 50,000 registered users. What are the most important data that you gain from using the platform?
Digitally savvy homeowners are no niche. We are convinced that a large number of homeowners will sooner or later use Houzy. How great our potential and how broad the target group is can be seen from the fact that our users are 25 to 80 years old and not just digital natives.
Our online tools use data for important personalized results and specific recommendations for action that simplify the lives of many homeowners. For example, you can use the renovation calculator to plan renovations cost-effectively, use the solar calculator to analyze whether a solar system is worthwhile, or use the property valuation to estimate the market value of a house or apartment and compare it with others.
“Houzy is an independent platform, the founders and management can decide in the interests of Houzy and the users.”
All tools are free for our users. We finance the platform with partner recommendations at the right time in the right place. If, thanks to our data, we know, for example, that a renovation is due, we recommend a selected craftsman from our exclusive network to the user. Or we propose alternative financing options if a user is interested in buying a new home when a mortgage is due.
Data security is fundamental to us. That is why all data is stored securely and password-protected. We only pass on contact details on behalf of the user if a user would like to be contacted by a craftsman or broker.
UBS and Baloise are among Houzy’s investors. What is the ownership structure, what share is still owned by the founders?
UBS and Baloise are strategic partners with a minority stake. Thanks to their expertise and their network, we can tackle various topics with more power and speed and strengthen our ecosystem.
Houzy is an independent platform, the founders and management can decide in the interests of Houzy and the users.
On your platform, owners and potential buyers can estimate and compare properties and, for example, determine the need for renovation of a property. How accurate are these estimates, where do you get the data for the calculations from?
We work together with experts, for example Fahrländer Partner for real estate valuation. Much of the data that we need for our analyzes is publicly available, the rest of the data has been entrusted to us by users. In addition, we have built up an enormous amount of knowledge since Houzy was founded and are continuously improving our calculations and estimates.
PropTech is a topic that has now also been discovered by the major banks, insurance companies and real estate developers. What does this mean with regard to your market opportunities, what will be easier, what will be more difficult with the new competitors?
The competition for users is increasing. But competition is good for business. We are well positioned to further develop our products and services and to at least maintain our lead. In the last two years we have specifically strengthened our team and now have the right people in the right place. We are big enough to tackle large projects and small enough to develop them quickly and with agility. As interest in PropTech increases, so does interest in us. This opens up great opportunities for new partnerships.
After German, Italian and French, the platform is now also available in English. What about expansion and internationalization plans?
We focus on Switzerland. We want to keep the pace of growth of 4,000 – 5,000 newly registered users per month and establish ourselves as the leading platform for residential property in Switzerland. At the beginning of June we exceeded the 50,000 user limit, and next year we want to reach 100,000 users.
“We do not sell any data, we only use it for relevant results and specific recommendations.”
The different areas have extreme synergy potential. If we accompany someone with the purchase of a house, we can at the same time offer a mortgage or recommend craftsmen for renovations or refurbishments.
Your services have so far been free of charge for users. If you are not a paying customer, from experience you are usually the product of the data that you provide. What does your business model look like, what additional sources of income are planned in the future?
Our services are and will remain free for homeowners. We do not sell any data, we only use it for relevant results and specific recommendations. Thanks to the data and results, however, we can see which offers make sense for a user and can therefore recommend the right partner at the right time. These partners are part of the Houzy ecosystem and pay us for digital access to users.
We will not change this business model, but will supplement it with new areas and products. Our vision is to make home ownership easy. To do this, we intelligently link data, derive individual recommendations and thus create added value for homeowners.
In your opinion, which technological developments in the PropTech area have the potential to give the sector a massive boost?
Compared to other areas, many processes are still analog or offline. That will change because people ask for it. More and more processes are being digitized. For example, virtual reality tours or online house or apartment handovers. This applies to all points of contact or contact with the home owner for his entire life cycle with the home.
At the end of the interview you have two wishes, what do they look like?
For Houzy, I wish that we all stay healthy and can maintain our great team spirit even in the phase of rapid growth.
For society I hope that we have all learned something from the last year and a half and that we will emerge from this difficult time stronger and in solidarity.
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