SoloPro may be Tommy Sowers’ first startup, but he’s got years of experience leading teams, training people, communicating a mission and raising millions of dollars for a cause.

The man attempting to unbundle the home-buying process – who announced the latest investors in a $1.6 million venture capital round Thursday – did all those things as a former Green Beret and U.S. Army Special Forces Officer, a London School of Economics Ph.D. who taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and his alma mater Duke University, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Missouri and Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He has his own Wikipedia page (though SoloPro isn’t on it yet).

Now, he’ll bring them to a startup inspired by his Realtor cousin Shayne Sowers and funded by a bunch of investors from around the nation. The newest investors are largely local, including the affiliated Duke Angel Network and Duke Innovation Fund (one of both entities’ initial investments) and (WRAL TechWire parent) Capitol Broadcasting Co.’s New Media Group. Sowers calls it a “classic oversubscribed round.”

The new investors are strategic additions to the funding group, Sowers says. Capitol Broadcasting has expertise in media and real estate and Duke brings both credibility and many connections through its angel network. They join previously announced investors Lowe’s Companies, the investment arm of the home improvement store chain, Oxpoint Investments of Arlington, Va., Buchanan Ventures of Houston, Blue {Seed} Capital of New York City, Arnold Capital of San Francisco and several angel investors.

SoloPro promises buyers who use its platform a 3 percent rebate after they purchase a home using SoloPro. In return, they can purchase services from real estate professionals a la carte. For example, if a buyer finds the home, he can hire a Realtor to negotiate the sale or handle the closing. On the site, there’s a toggle that lets you choose a little help all the way up to “all you can eat,” with different flat rates chosen by the Realtors. It also shows how much money you’ll save (on average) with each selection.

A pilot happened this summer in the Triangle, which helped SoloPro get vetted by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission and sign more than 300 Realtors on the platform. Many of those are located in the 40 states where rebates are allowed, priming SoloPro for expansion. Sowers says he’ll enter new markets next year.

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