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Moderne Ventures names 9 startups for 2022 Passport Program

Moderne Ventures, the Chicago-based venture fund launched by the former head of the National Association of Realtors’ venture initiatives, has accepted nine companies into its 2022 Passport Program, it was announced Thursday.

Moderne, which claims $350 million in assets under management and evaluates over 4,500 emerging tech companies each year, says its Passport Program provides participating companies with education, exposure, insight and relationships to drive customer growth.

Companies participating in the six-month industry immersion program gain access to Moderne’s network of over 700 executives and corporations.

Constance Freedman

“We help companies understand complexities, optimize their products and services, and connect them to partners who can benefit most from them,” said Constance Freedman, Moderne Ventures’ founder and managing partner, in a statement.

The nine companies selected for the 2022 Passport Program have raised more than $52 million in funding, which collectively value the companies at $268 million.

The companies are:

  • Acorn Finance (Sacramento, California): A lending marketplace where consumers can compare prequalified offers up to $100,000 for major purchases including home improvement projects, exercise equipment and tech upgrades.
  • Aerwave (Dallas, Texas): Aerwave provides Internet service to rental communities and enables the “smart community” through the Digital Foundation.
  • Avvir (New York City): Harness the power of reality capture data by automating progress and earned value tracking, quality control and as-built creation to build a true system of record.
  • Livv.ai (Tel Aviv, Israel): A large scale AI lead-profiling platform for identifying user intent to buy or sell property and the optimal moment for service providers to engage.
  • Move Easy (Columbus, Ohio): Moving and home management service providing turnkey living for homeowners and helping real estate professionals and home service partners stay connected to clients.
  • Occuspace (San Diego, California): Taps occupancy data to plan and improve space utilization and real estate decisions.
  • RentCheck (New Orleans, Louisiana): Tech platform that brings rental inspections into one place to increase efficiency and reduce cost.
  • Tumble (San Francisco, California): Using tech to transform shared laundry rooms.
  • Zebel (Walnut Creek, California): Data analytics platform for multifamily real estate developers and general contractors to run feasibility analysis during early design stages.

Some of Moderne’s more notable investments in residential real estate include Better, Easy Knock, Hippo, ICON and Porch. Moderne has already exited investments a number of companies, including Contactually, Homebot and Homesnap.

Before launching Moderne in 2015, Freedman led NAR’s venture initiatives, Second Century Ventures and REach, a startup accelerator. This week REach announced eight companies participating in its 2022 tech accelerator program: Courted, Fractional, Inspectify, leadPops, PLACE, Perchwell, Reggora and Revive.

Email Matt Carter