On the heels of its May product launch, TitleWise has secured $1 million in a seed round led by M25.
As KY Inno previously reported, the Clarksville, Indiana-based startup was founded in 2017 by CEO Jennifer Mason and Christopher Mason, who recognized a need for digital solutions in the real estate title industry after their experience as the owners of Southern Indiana Abstract Co.
After initially creating an app in 2019, TitleWise, one of KY Inno's Startups to Watch in 2023, soft-launched a new version of its product in January 2023 before its wide release a few weeks ago.
In an interview Wednesday, Jennifer Mason told me the capital injection came at the right time, as TitleWise is now in a place to grow in both sales and product development. She's going full time with TitleWise as a result of the investment, and so will its COO Eric Littleton.
"We've hit the road with some conference and trade show appearances, where we've been getting really exciting affirmation. We know we've hit the pain point just right," Mason said. "I think the challenge ahead is connecting to those ideal customers — if they were easy to find and solve for, that problem would be accomplished already. So I think what we're finding interesting is how do you find these people, and then how do we listen to the feedback in a way that enables us to sell the product as we know it works today, but also helps us better plan for the products future and how we can solve more aspects of the problem and really expand the market."
As a result of the capital raise, TitleWise will look to bring on two people in product development "right away," and sales will continue to be founder-led through the third quarter before the company hires another two to three support members later in the year. It currently has four on-site and four off-shore employees.
M25, which has offices in Chicago and Indianapolis, offers TitleWise a unique advantage: Access to Midwestern networks and resources. That will be important as the company looks to bring on experienced talent that can fold into its operations seamlessly, Mason said.
"There's something special about debunking that myth that you've got to go to the coasts to get your company funded," she added. "M25 not only supported where we were, they helped us better realize where we could go."
Mason also named Far Out Ventures, Flywheel Ventures, Awesome Inc. and Elevate Ventures as allies in the fundraising process. Locally, Phoebe Wood and Gill Holland are both angel investors in the company, which has raised about $1.25 million to date.
The seed round also brought a greater awareness of the work TitleWise is doing, Mason said, which has led to a lot of support from the local startup and business community.
"When the broader community like rallies around you and lifts you up, to me, that's been another really exciting part of the fundraising and the awareness from it," she said. "It's just keeping us in top of mind for people that we want to be talking to."
