Our sister site Technical.ly Philly reported earlier this week that Philly-based real estate startup Houwzer, a tech-enabled real estate brokerage, aims to expand its presence in Philly and D.C. through a $4.5 million “seed extension” round of funding. Investors include basketball star David Robinson, real estate guru Ira Lubert, past investor Ben Franklin Capital Partners and angel investor syndicate Broad Street Angel.

The company’s founder, Mike Maher, also cofounded coworking company Benjamin’s Desk, which you may now know as 1776 He told Technical.ly that he chased Lubert’s backing for awhile before he made the large investment.

“The simple answer is: he turned me down three times before he said yes,” Maher told our Technical.ly Philly lead reporter Roberto Torres. “Like any entrepreneur, you keep selling your story and sticking to it. He first saw the deal as just a PowerPoint, but at the end of the day it came down to traction. We now have great traction in our home market.”

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