ZeroDown was a San Francisco-based proptech and fintech startup founded in 2018 by former Zenefits executives Abhijeet Dwivedi, Laks Srini, and Hari Viswanathan. The company originally launched a rent-to-own program designed to remove down payment and mortgage qualification barriers for buyers in high-cost markets like the Bay Area: ZeroDown would purchase a home on the customer's behalf, lease it to them for up to five years, and credit a portion of the monthly payments toward an eventual purchase. After raising $30 million in equity from Sam Altman and Goodwater Capital and $100 million in debt from Credit Suisse, the company pivoted away from sale-leaseback and rebuilt itself around an AI-powered home search portal aimed at competing with Zillow and Redfin. ZeroDown graduated from Y Combinator's W19 batch and was acquired by Flyhomes in January 2024; co-founders Laks Srini and Abhijeet Dwivedi joined Flyhomes as CTO and Chief Growth Officer, respectively.
ZeroDown has been acquired
This company is no longer available on our private secondary market.
Company data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Founded
2018
Employees
11–50
Total Funding
$130M
2 rounds
Latest Valuation
$0.15B
August 26, 2019
Total raised $130M across 2 rounds
Funding data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Last updated 05-19-2026
Latest Round
Type
Debt Financing
Date
August 26, 2019
Amount
$100M
Valuation
—
Lead Investors
| Date | Round | Amount Raised | Valuation | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 26, 2019 | Debt Financing | $100M | — | Credit Suisse |
| May 20, 2019 | Seed / Series A (equity) | $30M | — | Sam Altman, Goodwater Capital |
Abhijeet Dwivedi
Co-Founder & CEO (became Chief Growth Officer at Flyhomes post-acquisition)
Laks Srini
Co-Founder & CTO (became CTO at Flyhomes post-acquisition)
Hari Viswanathan
Co-Founder
Competitor list is illustrative and may be incomplete, stale, or erroneous.
Flyhomes
Seattle-based homebuying platform offering cash-offer programs and tech-enabled brokerage; ultimately acquired ZeroDown in 2024.
Divvy Homes
Rent-to-own startup that purchases homes on behalf of customers and builds purchase credits toward ownership, directly competing with ZeroDown's original model.
Landis
Rent-to-own platform helping renters become homebuyers by purchasing the home and leasing it back while the customer improves credit and saves a down payment.
Zillow
Publicly traded real estate marketplace and search portal; primary competitor to ZeroDown's post-pivot AI home-search product.
Redfin
Publicly traded technology-powered real estate brokerage and listing search portal, competing with ZeroDown's home-search product.
Opendoor
Publicly traded iBuyer offering instant home purchase and resale; broader proptech competitor in the homebuying technology space.
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