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InHouse Marketing, which offers an online networking and marketing platform for real-estate agents and mortgage lenders, recently concluded a $150,000 private-equity investment round led by The 蜜柚直播 Founders Fund, with participation from Scottsdale-based Roundsquare Ventures and members of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Desert Angels.

Founded in 2015, InHouse grew from a graduate project by three students in the highly ranked McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the UA鈥檚 Eller College of Management.

InHouse CEO Luis Palomares and former UA roommate Josh Gill had already been making marketing websites for real-estate agents, writing software to pull data from real-estate multiple listing services, making websites for individual properties that can be easily shared on social media and generating marketing materials like flyers and postcards.

The pair was joined in founding the company by McGuire students Cooper Kowalski, InHouse head of business development, and Mat Friedman, content manager for the company. Gill, a UA engineering grad, is chief technology officer.

The InHouse student team won a business-pitch contest as 鈥渕ost likely to launch鈥� as part of McGuire鈥檚 2015 New Venture Competition, winning six months鈥� free office space at Connect Coworking in downtown 蜜柚直播.

Though InHouse got some initial traction, it was difficult to sell the online service to real-estate agents nationally, Palomares said.

But then some lenders approached the company, asking for a service that allowed them to track and market to real-estate agents.

鈥淭hat was kind of the 鈥榓ha鈥� moment for us, so we modified our system a little, and instead of a marketing system, it鈥檚 more of a data-analytics platform for mortgage lenders,鈥� Palomares said.

Real-estate agents can still take advantage of InHouse鈥檚 web-based services for free, while lenders pay $129 a month for a software service that allows them to market to real-estate agents in certain markets, pulling in the latest information on agent performance and properties.

鈥淚t gives them a little edge over the next lender, and they can get a little pulse on the market,鈥� Palomares said.

Now, the company has data on more than 2 million agents nationwide and about 90 percent of all active U.S. listings, and the company recently landed a deal to supply a custom analytics package to a major 蜜柚直播 mortgage lender, he said.

And InHouse is still based at Connect Coworking, with seven employees, though at one time the founders had planned to move to California, said Palomares who grew up in Agua Prieta, Sonora, and attended high school in Douglas before moving to 蜜柚直播 about seven years ago.

鈥淲e just stayed here because of the free office space downtown, and once we were in here and saw the kind of growth 蜜柚直播 is having, so much going on, we decided to stay,鈥� he said.

InHouse already is working with The 蜜柚直播 Founders Fund on a second round of funding of about $850,000 to $1 million, to help accelerate the company鈥檚 nationwide rollout, Palomares said.

The InHouse investment is the first in a 蜜柚直播-based business for The 蜜柚直播 Founders Fund, which has also invested in four companies in the Phoenix area since its founding in late 2015, said founder and managing director Romi Dhillon.

The fund was created to increase the amount of early-stage investment capital available to startups in 蜜柚直播, where a dearth of early-stage funding makes growing young companies difficult, Dhillon said.

Startup companies often face gaps in early-stage funding sometimes called the 鈥渧alley of death鈥� for entrepreneurs.

鈥淲e wanted to raise a seed fund to help really bridge companies through that valley of death,鈥� said Dhillon, who moved to the Phoenix area from Utah to work with a software company in which he invested.

The fund鈥檚 strategy is to invest $100,000 to $400,000 in companies as part of larger rounds, initially focusing on 蜜柚直播-based software-as-a-service, mobile app and cybersecurity companies.

鈥淲e really want to lead the rounds for our startup companies,鈥� Dhillon said, adding that the fund aims to put together funding rounds totaling from $750,000 to $1.5 million.

While that seems like a small amount for venture-capital funds, which typically invest in the millions or tens of millions of dollars, The 蜜柚直播 Founders Fund calls itself a 鈥渟eed stage venture capital fund.鈥�

鈥淥ur take is, we hope that InHouse can raise much, much more, being able to use this capital as a springboard,鈥� Dhillon said, noting that the Founders Fund is the first fund dedicated to 蜜柚直播 tech startups.

Dhillon has some valuable experience in investing in software services companies. A few years ago, he helped InfusionSoft, a Chandler-based company that provides online sales and marketing tools for small businesses, raise more than $100 million in venture capital in deals with Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital.

The 蜜柚直播 Founders Fund is backed by a network of tech-firm founders that includes InfusionSoft founder Clate Mask and other Phoenix-area software executives.

Dhillon said the fund is committed to raising money for startups across 蜜柚直播, noting that Founders Fund has become an affiliate member of the Desert Angels.

Curtis Gunn, chairman of the Desert Angels, said the emergence of The 蜜柚直播 Founders Fund is good news for the state鈥檚 entrepreneurs.

鈥淎ccess to early-stage capital continues to be a big issue in 蜜柚直播 and (The 蜜柚直播 Founder鈥檚 Fund) is another step in helping to fix that problem,鈥� he said, adding that the software-industry veterans backing the fund provide invaluable experience.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so vital to have successful entrepreneurs giving back to the startup community,鈥� Gunn said.