Ownwell

Ownwell is a property tax monitoring and appeal services provider based in Austin, Texas, serving homeowners, property owners and real estate investors. Its software analyzes a property from just an address, drawing on millions of local records and real-time market data to determine whether it is over-assessed and to assemble the strongest available appeal case. Where it operates directly, Ownwell manages the appeal end-to-end, with local property tax experts who maintain relationships with county offices and build market-specific cases. Customers access a personalized property portal for value monitoring, forecasts of future tax bills, and other savings opportunities.

Beyond residential property tax appeals, Ownwell's product line includes property tax exemptions, commercial tax appeals, tax bill payments and management, mortgage, home insurance, an energy product (Ownwell Energy), and general bill reduction on expenses such as internet. It markets to residential owners, single-family rental owners and commercial/investor owners. In February 2026 the company launched a National Appeals Packet for homeowners outside its direct-service footprint: an AI-generated, ready-to-file digital packet containing filing instructions, locations, deadlines and requirements plus supporting evidence and valuation data, which customers can review and refine before submitting themselves.

Founding story

Co-founder Colton Pace concluded during a prior career as an investor and asset manager that everyday homeowners and small real estate investors lacked the tools and expertise available to sophisticated institutional owners, and went to business school to assemble a team around the problem. The three co-founders — Pace, Frank DiZenzo and Joseph Noor — met at UCLA, where Pace and DiZenzo were in the business school and Noor was a computer science Ph.D. student. They validated the concept by launching a Wix website and performing the property tax savings work manually, officially launching the business in the summer of 2020 during the pandemic while all three were still in demanding graduate programs; they worked from their apartments until acquiring an office in mid-2021.

Business model

Ownwell provides a done-for-you appeals service with no upfront costs, charging only when it secures savings. It layers additional homeowner cost-reduction services (exemptions, tax bill payments, insurance, energy, bill reduction, mortgage) onto the core property tax appeal relationship, and serves residential, single-family-rental and commercial segments. A self-serve National Appeals Packet extends the offering to markets it does not directly service.

Win-contingency pricing: Ownwell takes 25% of the savings it secures for a customer, which it describes as an industry-low rate, with no upfront fees.

Traction

Ownwell reports an 88% success rate (share of customers receiving a reduction on at least one appeal in 2025, as of 12/31/2025) and $774 average annual savings for customers who saved on at least one property in 2025; press coverage and the Series B release cite an 86% success rate with the same $774 average. The company reports more than $400M saved since 2020, over 1 million appeals processed, a 4.7 rating across 3,000+ Google reviews, and, per earlier profiles, 40x customer growth in the nine months to May 2022 and 86% of customers saving an average of $1,148 as of May 2023.

Latest developments

In February 2026 Ownwell announced a $50 million Series B — $30 million in equity led by Alpha Edison and Mercato Partners with participation from Intuit Ventures, Left Lane Capital, First Round Capital, Long Journey Ventures, PROOF Fund and Wonder Ventures, plus $20 million in debt from Western Alliance Bank — bringing total funding to $74 million, and simultaneously launched its National Appeals Packet. It also published a 2025 survey of 2,500 U.S. homeowners and, per its newsroom, has run community and property tax education programming with the San Antonio Spurs in Bexar County.