Inman Connect New York delivers the perfect blend of outside-the-box thinkers, cutting-edge leaders, and hard-working, successful agents. Join us Jan. 24-26 for crucial content, education, and networking opportunities to help you thrive in today’s changing market. Register here.
The largest multiple listing service in Colorado has invested in a tech startup partially owned by another MLS.
REcolorado, with more than 27,000 agent, broker and appraiser subscribers, has made a venture investment in Perchwell, a real estate data visualization, search and collaboration platform for agents and their clients, the companies announced Monday.
Perchwell declined to announce the amount of the investment, only saying it is adding to the $15 million Perchwell raised in its Series A round led by Founders Fund with participation from Lux Capital and California Regional MLS (CRMLS). Along with an earlier $4 million seed round that Series A raise brought Perchwell’s total funding to $19 million at the time, December 2021.
Brendan Fairbanks
“We will use the additional funds for continued product development, specifically to expand our product and engineering teams further,” said Perchwell’s founder and CEO Brendan Fairbanks in an emailed statement to Inman. “The recent downturn in the capital markets makes now a good time to hire.”
REcolorado will also launch Perchwell’s MLS platform to its subscribers sometime in “the later part of 2023,” an REcolorado spokesperson told Inman. The MLS does not have a launch date for the Perchwell platform, which will replace REcolorado’s current MLS system, CoreLogic’s Matrix.
Once the Perchwell MLS system is fully launched for subscribers, REcolorado will discontinue the use of the Matrix platform, the MLS said.
Founded in 2015, Perchwell is both a “back end” (database) MLS product and a “front end” MLS product and REcolorado will be adopting the entire system. “Front end” refers to what agents see when they log on. Perchwell marries listing information to public and private data sets that provide context to those listings and provides workflow and productivity tools, such as custom analytics, reports, listing presentations, client collaboration and contact management.
Gene Millman
“We continually strive to arm our subscribers with the best tools to deliver the most value to homebuyers and sellers,” said REcolorado President and CEO Gene Millman in a statement.
“Technology and data are core to our strategy, and we are thrilled to have found a business partner who shares our vision for how it can best serve our industry. We believe deeply in what Perchwell is building and we are glad to be joining forces with them as both a customer and investor in driving innovation in real estate.”
Screenshot of Perchwell interface
Perchwell’s platform also offers “plug and play” interoperability with other tech products.
“Interoperability is critical to building a modern tech ecosystem in real estate and we believe the MLS can be the central data hub at the ecosystem’s foundation,” Fairbanks said in a statement.
“Perchwell’s API layer enables MLSs to easily bring innovative products to their membership while also improving data integrity, standards, and transparency.”
Perchwell plans to launch for CRMLS users first, then for CincyMLS, which covers southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana, and then for REcolorado, according to Fairbanks. The CRMLS launch is scheduled for first-quarter 2023 and the CincyMLS launch is planned for either the fourth quarter or first-quarter 2023.
Until now, Perchwell has only debuted in New York City, where the company says it’s the technology platform of choice among top local and national brokerages including Sotheby’s International Realty, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and SERHANT.
Perchwell has also operated the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) Residential Listing Service, the Big Apple’s de facto MLS, since 2020.
“As we expand geographically, we are forming partnerships with many of the most progressive MLSs in the U.S. to reinvigorate their technology offerings,” Fairbanks said.
“We look forward to working with the REcolorado team in building a cohesive technology ecosystem that empowers agents to provide the highest level of service to consumers.”
