Just Waltz in, Waltz out: This venture-backed Miami startup makes international home buying a breeze

By Riley Kaminer

Since Yuval Golan left his home country of Israel 18 years ago, he has lived all around the world. But in each country, he has faced the same problem: “Setting up a home was always a disaster.” From moving money to setting up local bank accounts to finding a place to live and more, headaches abounded.

Fast forward to 2020, and Golan saw an opportunity to invest in real estate amid the pandemic. He vetted opportunities in Greece, Brazil, Israel, Thailand, and the U.S., learning that each place made it anywhere from tricky to downright impossible to buy a property as an international investor.

So Golan rolled up his sleeves and started building. Not building a house – rather, building the digital infrastructure necessary to enable investors to more easily access the American housing market.

That startup: Waltz. The startup has built an all-in-one platform that aims to make buying a house as easy as making a few clicks. In as little as two weeks, foreign investors are provided with help setting up an LLC, Employee Identification Number, operating agreement, mortgage, remote closing, and more.

To fuel Waltz’s growth, the company has recently closed a $12.5 million Series A fundraise. Including Waltz’s seed round in 2022, the company has raised a total of $24 million. Waltz’s investors include TLV Partners, Aleph, RE Angels, and a diverse range of business leaders.

Golan told Refresh Miami that Waltz will use these funds to bring the company to profitability. The team, which currently includes 24 employees (four of whom are in Florida), will also expand thanks to this capital infusion. This includes a few key immediate hires across product management, partnerships, and content marketing. Already, the company is half female, with a management team that is 45% women led.

Thus far, Waltz has processed over $100 million in applications and a repeat client rate of 40%. “We’re seeing that each client refers at least a friend, or even more,” said Golan. “We’re receiving more and more demand for our products.”

So why Miami? “It’s a very international city, and buying property here is a dream for lots of foreign investors,” said Golan, who has lived here for the last two years. He also noted that the Florida real estate market is one of the most important in the US. That, combined with our city’s ever-growing startup prowess, made basing Waltz here a no-brainer.

The company’s target market is upper middle class international investors that are looking to diversify their portfolio and believe in the U.S. real estate market. International clients that have used the platform hail from countries including Chile, Colombia, Israel, and Portugal. For these clients, Waltz is able to secure loans worth up to 70% of the property value.

“Waltz fundamentally reshapes the investment experience of buying residential real estate in the U.S. as a foreigner,” Tomer Diari, a general partner at Aleph and the lead investor for Waltz’s Series A Round. “By removing key pain points, such as strict lending requirements, higher down payments, financing hurdles, securing proof of income, and the need to be in-person to open a bank account, foreigners are able to explore the benefits of owning investment properties.”

For Golan, the future is bright. “We’re solving a real problem that really matters. It’s the thing that everyone buying properties complains about. Being able to solve this problem is an amazing privilege.”

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Riley Kaminer

I am a Miami-based technology researcher and writer with a passion for sharing stories about the South Florida tech ecosystem. I particularly enjoy learning about GovTech startups, cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence, and innovators that leverage technology to transform society for the better. Always open for pitches via Twitter @rileywk or www.RileyKaminer.com.

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