Sellona

Cover Block

Field	Value
Name	Sellona
Tagline	Platform connecting home buyers and sellers directly without commissions using AI
Headquarters	Northern Virginia, United States
Stage	Pre-Seed
Business Model	Marketplace
Industry	Proptech
Technology	AI / Machine Learning
Geography	North America
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (3+): Sarah McLaren, John Tramonte, Hunter Powers

Links

• Website: https://www.sellona.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellona

The Short Version

Sellona is a Northern Virginia proptech building a direct-to-consumer marketplace that lets homeowners list and transact without paying a traditional listing or buyer-side commission, using AI to mediate the workflow that agents historically owned [wusa9]. The pitch arrives at a moment when the economics of U.S. residential real estate brokerage are under pressure, and several venture-backed entrants are testing whether software can absorb a meaningful share of the roughly 5 to 6 percent transaction fee. The company was co-founded by Sarah McLaren, who previously worked at luxury brokerage Washington Fine Properties [RocketReach]; John Tramonte, a real estate attorney and licensed agent in McLean, Virginia [Homes.com]; and Hunter Powers, a technology executive whose prior stops include GLG, Bessemer Venture Partners, Interos, and Basket [RocketReach]. The product allows sellers to list at a fixed price or within a range, lets buyers broadcast purchase intent, and routes both sides to a marketplace of attorneys and other local experts who can be hired a la carte [Sellona; ZoomInfo]. Funding to date is not publicly disclosed. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the questions for an investor are whether Sellona can demonstrate listing supply in its home Virginia market, whether the expert marketplace generates take-rate revenue at scale, and whether AI features genuinely reduce the friction that keeps most owners from selling without an agent.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founders and product description corroborated by WUSA9, Medium/Authority Magazine, and the company website; funding and metrics are unconfirmed.

Taxonomy Snapshot

Axis	Value
Stage	Pre-Seed
Business Model	Marketplace
Industry / Vertical	Proptech / Residential Real Estate
Technology Type	AI / Machine Learning
Geography	North America (Mid-Atlantic launch)
Growth Profile	Venture Scale
Founding Team	Co-Founders (3+)

The Company in Brief

Sellona was founded by Sarah McLaren, John Tramonte, and Hunter Powers to build a digital infrastructure to buy and sell homes without commissions [LinkedIn]. The company is based in Northern Virginia, and its early go-to-market appears focused on the Washington, D.C. metro, where Tramonte practices as a real estate attorney and McLean-area agent [Homes.com]. Sellona is described in regional press as an emerging startup [wusa9].

The origin story frames Sellona as a response to friction the founders observed inside traditional residential transactions, particularly the bundled commission model [Medium]. McLaren has described early customer-discovery conversations that pushed the team toward a model in which sellers retain pricing control and buyers can engage specialists, like attorneys or inspectors, only when they need them [Medium]. The product surface today reflects that framing: free listings, a buyer-broadcast feature, and a separate "Expert Marketplace" page on the company site [Sellona].

Public milestones are limited. WUSA9 has covered Sellona twice, including a segment headlined around whether the platform could make agents obsolete [wusa9]. Beyond press coverage, founder LinkedIn updates, and the company's own pages, the public record contains no disclosed funding rounds, no named institutional investors, and no published user, listing, or transaction metrics.

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founding team and HQ confirmed by LinkedIn and WUSA9; entity and milestone dates are not publicly available.

What They Have Built

Sellona's product is a two-sided marketplace that strips the listing and buyer-representation commissions out of a residential transaction and replaces them with self-service tools plus a paid expert layer. On the seller side, the site states that owners can set a fixed price or list within a range [Sellona]. On the buyer side, users can list their homes for free, broadcast their home buying needs, and access a marketplace of local experts such as attorneys [ZoomInfo]. The Expert Marketplace page positions licensed professionals, with attorneys called out specifically, as the paid services that surround the free listing layer [Sellona].

The AI dimension is described in press coverage rather than in any technical disclosure. WUSA9 reports that Sellona lets buyers and sellers connect directly, eliminating commission fees and using AI for smarter real estate transactions [wusa9]. The company has not published a model card, technical blog, or engineering job posting visible in the captured research, so the underlying stack and the specific tasks AI performs are not publicly documented.

Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Product description sourced primarily from the company's own pages and a single regional press outlet; technical claims are not independently verified.

Market Research and Opportunity

U.S. residential real estate is in the middle of a significant change to its commission structure. The National Association of Realtors' March 2024 settlement and the related rule changes that took effect in August 2024 decoupled buyer-agent compensation from MLS listings and required written buyer-broker agreements. Sellona's pitch, that buyers and sellers can transact directly and pay only for the services they actually use, sits squarely inside that shift.

The addressable market is large in absolute terms. The U.S. sees several million existing-home sales each year, and at a national median sale price in the mid-$400,000s, even a modest take rate against transaction value implies a multi-billion-dollar revenue pool currently captured by brokerages and agents.

Demand-side tailwinds are real but uneven. Sellers in hot markets have always been the most willing audience for FSBO and discount models. The 2024 rule changes add a second tailwind on the buy side: for the first time, buyers must explicitly agree to and often directly fund their agent's compensation, which creates an opening for products that let them opt out of full-service representation. Working against these tailwinds is the durable consumer preference for full-service agents and the network effects of MLS distribution.

Market signal	Detail	Source
Regulatory catalyst	NAR settlement and August 2024 rule changes decoupled buyer-agent compensation from MLS	Industry public record
Competitive density	Multiple discount, flat-fee, and FSBO platforms operate in the U.S. residential market	Industry public record
Sellona positioning	Free listing plus paid expert marketplace, with AI workflow layer	[Sellona; wusa9]

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Regulatory context is part of the public record; company-specific market share and TAM figures are not disclosed in the captured research.

Who Else Is Fighting for This

Sellona is entering a category that has been contested for two decades by FSBO platforms, flat-fee MLS services, discount brokerages, and the major portals, and where AI-native entrants are now adding a fresh layer of competition.

The competitive map has roughly three bands. The first band is legacy FSBO and flat-fee MLS, where companies like ForSaleByOwner.com and Houzeo have for years offered owners a way to list on the MLS without engaging a full-service listing agent. The second band is discount and tech-enabled brokerages, including Redfin and a number of regional players, which retain a licensed-agent relationship but compress the fee. The third band, and the one Sellona most directly belongs to, is AI-native consumer marketplaces that aim to replace the agent's coordination function with software plus on-demand specialists.

Sellona's defensible edges are concentrated in two places. The first is founder fit: Tramonte's status as a practicing real estate attorney and McLean-area agent gives the company domain knowledge in transaction mechanics and a credible anchor for the Expert Marketplace [Homes.com], while McLaren's prior tenure at Washington Fine Properties provides exposure to high-end brokerage workflows [RocketReach], and Powers brings two decades of technology execution including a stop at Bessemer Venture Partners [RocketReach]. The second is geographic focus: by launching in Northern Virginia, the team can compound listings, expert relationships, and word-of-mouth in a single high-value metro before attempting national expansion.

Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Competitive landscape based on industry-wide analysis of the U.S. residential real estate category.

Opportunity

If Sellona executes on its stated model, the prize is a defensible position inside one of the largest fee pools in U.S. consumer finance, a pool that is being actively reshaped by regulation.

The headline opportunity. The single largest outcome Sellona could plausibly become is the default consumer-facing transaction layer for unbundled residential real estate in the post-NAR-settlement environment. The thesis is that as buyer-agent compensation moves from a default-bundled MLS field to an explicit line item, a meaningful minority of buyers and sellers will choose to engage specialists a la carte rather than pay a packaged commission. Sellona's product surface, free listings, buyer broadcasting, and an expert marketplace anchored by attorneys, is built for exactly that consumer [Sellona; ZoomInfo].

Growth scenarios.

Scenario	What happens	Catalyst	Why it's plausible
Mid-Atlantic anchor	Sellona becomes the default unbundled transaction platform across the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia metro before expanding nationally	Demonstrated transaction volume in Northern Virginia plus local title and escrow integrations	Founders are based in and licensed in the metro [Homes.com]
Expert marketplace flywheel	The take-rate on attorney, inspector, and closing services becomes the primary revenue line, with free listings as the acquisition layer	Onboarding a critical mass of vetted local experts willing to pay for qualified buyer and seller leads	Expert Marketplace already exists as a product surface [Sellona]
Regulatory tailwind capture	Post-settlement consumer behavior shifts faster than incumbents can adapt	Continued enforcement and visibility of the August 2024 rule changes	Regulatory shift is part of the public record

Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Opportunity framing rests on confirmed product surface and the public record of the U.S. residential real estate category; company-specific traction is not disclosed.

Sources

1. [WUSA9] Northern Virginia tech startup looks to disrupt real estate market | https://www.wusa9.com/article/money/business/northern-virginia-sellona-real-estate-ai-artificial-intelligence/65-7e3e38bb-582c-49f6-93da-1274ed64084e
2. [WUSA9] Could this Northern Virginia startup make real estate agents obsolete? | https://www.wusa9.com/video/tech/could-this-northern-virginia-startup-make-real-estate-agents-obsolete/65-a3af54cf-7eb9-448a-b3f8-5cf3c7fcc171
3. [Medium / Authority Magazine] Startup Revolution: Sarah McLaren of Sellona on How Their Emerging Startup Is Changing the Game | https://medium.com/authority-magazine/startup-revolution-sarah-mclaren-of-sellona-on-how-their-emerging-startup-is-changing-the-game-8e2fefed0a23
4. [LinkedIn] Sarah K. McLaren, CEO, Sellona | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-k-mclaren-7650001b/
5. [LinkedIn] Hunter Powers, Sellona | https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunterpowers/
6. [LinkedIn] John Tramonte, Real Estate Attorney | https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-tramonte-3a6025123/
7. [LinkedIn] Sellona company page | https://www.linkedin.com/company/sellona
8. [ZoomInfo] Sellona, Overview, News & Similar companies | https://www.zoominfo.com/c/sellona/1339728504
9. [ZoomInfo] Johnny Tramonte, Co-Founder at Sellona | https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Johnny-Tramonte/-952132651
10. [ZoomInfo] Hunter Powers, Co-Founder & CTO at Sellona | https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Hunter-Powers/10330653968
11. [Sellona] How It Works | https://www.sellona.com/how-it-works
12. [Sellona] Expert Marketplace | https://www.sellona.com/expert-marketplace
13. [Sellona] Home Sellers | https://www.sellona.com/home-sellers
14. [Sellona] Home Buyers | https://www.sellona.com/home-buyers
15. [Hunter Powers Website] Hunter Powers personal site | https://www.hunterpowers.com/
16. [Homes.com] John Tramonte, Real Estate Agent in McLean, VA | https://www.homes.com/real-estate-agents/john-tramonte/id-24286174/