400% funded + our Co-Founder got published in Forbes! 👊
Thanks to all of our new investors, we've now eclipsed $100,000 in funding on Republic. Thanks for your support as our growth continues!
Feature in Forbes 🙌
Our Co-Founder Fred McGill was recently accepted into the Forbes "Real Estate Council" - comprised of thought leaders and executives in the real estate technology space. Last Friday, his first article was published, which details the recent emergence of Venture Capital interest and investment into the real estate technology sector. You can check out the article here: "What The Surge of VC Interest in Real Estate Tech means for the Industry."
Here are some of the highlights from the article:
Most Americans' online shopping patterns have evolved from buying commodity items like books to more personalized items like clothes and groceries. But what about buying a home?
Despite advances in consumer home search functionality thanks to pioneers like Zillow and Trulia, most of the home buying process has remained mostly inconvenient, offline and, frankly, undisrupted. But my company is among a number of startups that are looking to change that by innovating the way we buy and sell homes, with the ultimate goal of providing consumers with greater control, convenience and affordability.
Innovation in the residential real estate technology space is not a new thing, but it's certainly been heating up recently. Startups in the category have raised a total of nearly $4 billion in 2018, compared $519 million in 2013. The pace and attention that we're experiencing right now is on a much bigger scale than we've ever seen — by far.
What is real estate technology?
Real estate tech can be broadly defined as any software or technology-based solution and service that touches the real estate vertical. A few of the main categories include tech-enabled brokerages, property data/valuation providers, listing/search services, marketplace/liquidity providers, leasing/property management, title/closing services and mortgage/lending providers.
Why so much interest from VCs?
While there are a variety of forces that are influencing a surge in capital into real estate tech startups, there are a handful of key economic, demographic and market timing factors that are leading to the influx of interest and cash.
1. A large number of millennials are waiting on the sidelines to buy homes.
2. Portions of the lending and home closing process are being digitized.
3. Increased consumer demand for liquidity and convenience.
What's next?
When it comes to funding, innovation and change in the real estate space, we're in the very early innings of a long ballgame. Most of us startups in the real estate technology space are simply establishing a presence and attempting to garner some degree of brand recognition at this point. But the one major source of optimism for VCs is the anecdotal evidence that suggests that many consumers are unhappy with the traditional framework of the home transaction process. So long as this satisfaction deficit exists, it provides a very large window for innovation and disruption within the real estate space.
Keep reading and check out the full article here.