Zillow Group acquires VSAI, a virtual staging tool that adds furniture to real estate listings

In a bid to help real estate agents make their online listings more appealing, Zillow Group announced the acquisition of Virtual Staging AI, a startup founded last year that uses AI to create virtual furniture and decorations.

“VSAI offers the next generation of listing innovation to elevate the listing experience on Zillow for home shoppers,” Zillow wrote in a blog post. “Their AI-powered virtual staging technology generates listing photos that are nearly indistinguishable from traditionally staged listings.”

Real estate agents can use VSAI to upload photos of a room, and its software automatically creates staged images.

Zillow said it plans to offer VSAI’s tech through its product suite in the near future.

Michael Bonacina and Mikhail Andreev launched VSAI after developing the initial technology at Harvard.

The company is mostly based in Munich, and its nine employees will be joining Zillow’s AI and tech team.

Zillow last year acquired Follow Up Boss, a popular customer relationship management system for agents and brokers, for up to $500 million. It also bought Spruce, a title and escrow company, and Aryeo, a real estate media software platform.

Zillow in 2021 paid $500 million to acquire ShowingTime, a real estate startup that sold software to facilitate home showings. It also bought real estate content startup VRX Media in 2022.

The Seattle-based company reported second-quarter revenue of $572 million, up 13%. The company’s stock is up 30% over the past six months.

Zillow announced in August longtime executive Jeremy Wacksman as its new CEO, taking over from co-founder Rich Barton.