A former Root Insurance product manager has raised $24.6 million over the past year from venture capital firms, real estate tech giant Opendoor and her former employer for a startup to digitize the cumbersome real estate title process.
Empora Title Inc. launched publicly from stealth mode Wednesday, announcing a $20 million Series A round to speed growth to markets nationwide.
CEO Megan Harris founded the Columbus company in December 2020, leaving Root Inc. after one year developing user experience. It's a common pattern for startup employees to leave to build something new after an acquisition or IPO; Root went public last fall.
Timothy Overly joined this August as director of engineering, after four years as a senior engineering manager at Root.
Before Root Harris worked four years at real estate cybersecurity startup SafeChain Financial Inc., her first job in product management. It also introduced her to paper-laden title transfers, a headache she returned to when looking to start her own venture. (SafeChain shut down at the end of 2019, but the tech to prevent wire fraud was revived last year as SafeWire.)
"I spent a ton of time with real estate investors throughout the state; they said over and over they need better communication, they need a seamless experience," Harris said in an interview. "We are digitizing the whole closing experience end to end."
Caffeinated Capital led the Series A, with participation from Madison-based Background Capital and returning investor SciFi VC. SciFi also led a $4.6 million seed round last December, with Columbus' Root and Opendoor Technologies Inc. Caffeinated, SciFi and OpenDoor are based in San Francisco.
"Empora brings an innovative and complementary product to market that will inevitably disrupt the title industry as we know it," Raymond Tonsing, Caffeinated founder and managing partner, said in a news release. "Megan Harris is an exceptional talent with the experience and expertise to build a large and meaningful company."
Empora was licensed as a title agency earlier this year. Test customers, Ohio-based real estate investors, saved on average 30% on closing costs and significant amounts of time, Harris said.
Large legacy title companies and the trade group American Land Title Association have advised the startup, even though it aims to compete with them.
"They also recognize the need for real estate investors and buyers to have a more streamlined solution," Harris said.
Empora has grown to 14 employees, all remote. Hiring is ongoing in engineering, real estate title expertise and customer support.
"Our goal is to be the premier digital title experience throughout the nation," Harris said. "I’m excited to build a national, great, enduring company."
