Real estate management startup sells for $68 million

A Portland startup that allows property owners to manage their real estate is selling for a pretty penny. According to the Oregonian, owners of the startup known as Cozy that is based out of North Portland are getting $68 million for their popular rare tech app from CoStar.

Promising to “make renting easier for landlords and renters everywhere,” the app gives real estate owners an easy way to communicate with tenants through every step of the housing process. First, it allows owners to easily market their properties, then they can choose from those who have applied to live there, and finally, receive automatic bill payments and keep track of contracts.

The app was founded in 2013 in San Francisco but later moved its headquarters to the Pacific Northwest. The buyer CoStar is a company based in Washington D.C. that also deals in commercial real estate management and information.

“Cozy’s technology makes the renting and payments process simple, secure, and intuitive,” CoStar chief executive Andrew Florance said in a written statement to the Oregonian. “When combined with Apartments.com, the 40 million prospective renters that visit our network each month will be able to effortlessly locate, apply, lease and pay for their new rental home completely online.”

CoStar already owns popular sites like Apartments.com, among others.

Cozy officials say that they are responsible for 50,000 landlords and 120,000 tenants. That amounts to $1.4 billion made in the last 12 months.

“Our vision is incredibly well aligned with CoStar, and by joining forces, it drastically accelerates our mission to provide peace of mind to landlords and renters everywhere,” Cozy founder Gino Zahnd told the Oregonian.

CoStar heads say that the deal with Cozy could allow it to expand more in multi-family properties.