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Technology companies focused on financial planning, investment properties, lead generation, and marketing are among those the National Association of Realtors has chosen for its 2023 U.S. tech growth program for residential real estate, the 1.5 million-member trade group announced Tuesday.
Flock, HighNote, Plus Platform, Prisidio, Real Grader, Summer and Tongo were all chosen to participate in REACH, which NAR is now calling a “scale-up program” rather than an “accelerator” to signify that it’s not only interested in startups.
Ashley Stinton
“While the terms are frequently used interchangeably, scale-ups often serve later stage growth companies,” Ashley Stinton, REACH’s executive director, told Inman in an emailed statement.
“As a highly bespoke, stage-agnostic program we welcome interest from pre-seed all the way to pre-IPO and publicly-traded companies. We aim to help scale the best of the best in global real estate technology, at all stages of growth.”
Second Century Ventures, NAR’s venture capital arm, runs both REACH and REACH Commercial, its program for commercial real estate. SCV launched REACH in 2013 and this is the eleventh group the for-profit company has accepted into the program.
SCV only chose seven companies for its U.S. REACH program this year. SCV has chosen eight companies for the program almost every year since its inception with the exception of 2013 when it chose seven and 2017 when it chose nine. Asked why only seven were chosen this year for the U.S. program, Stinton said, “While the average number of companies per cohort is eight, we do not commit to a set number for any of our programs.”
REACH offers startups education on the real estate industry as well as mentoring and networking opportunities with industry professionals to enable them to scale up. In exchange, accepted companies pay SCV a marketing fee and hand over small equity stakes in their company.
The residential real estate companies chosen for the 2023 cohort focus on financial planning, second-home property ownership, property management, data management, lead generation, marketing, and mortgage asset management.
Dave Garland
“By supporting and investing in innovative small businesses through the REACH program, we can ensure that Realtors have access to the latest and most effective tools and technologies, enabling them to better serve their clients and stay ahead in an ever-evolving industry,” said Dave Garland, SCV’s managing partner, in a statement.
Here are the companies accepted into the 2023 REACH program as well as their NAR-provided descriptions:
- Flock: offers a seamless and tax-deferred exit from rental property using the 721 Exchange, allowing property owners to passively earn income and appreciation without the traditional responsibilities of ownership.
- HighNote: a drag and drop presentation and proposal platform to help agents pitch and sell listings, offers, neighborhoods and themselves.
- Plus Platform: modern asset management and trading platform for residential mortgages, providing better transparency and liquidity to the mortgage market.
- Prisidio: digital vault to capture and securely share your most important information with the key people in your life.
- Real Grader: measures, manages and maximizes digital reputation for real estate professionals across search, social media and real estate platforms.
- Summer: simplifies the process of finding, buying, designing and monetizing a vacation or investment home through a non-fractional approach.
- Tongo: private card-based product for agents to draw against pending commissions ahead of closing, and only repay when they get paid.
NAR announced Real Grader’s early acceptance into the REACH program in March. Last year, local Realtor associations began piloting their own real estate tech accelerators as part of NAR REACH Labs, local extensions of the trade group’s tech accelerator. Real Grader participated in a REACH Labs event hosted by Miami Realtors in 2022.
SCV also chose seven companies to participate in its 2023 REACH Commercial program, NAR said in its announcement Tuesday: APM Help, BlueStreak IoT, Dwellwell Analytics, Fortress PropTech, Fyma, Rockport, and Work & Mother.
Together, this year’s cohorts for both REACH and REACH Commercial have raised more than $100 million in funding and employ more than 400 people around the world, the trade group said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with an additional comment from REACH’s executive director, Ashley Stinton.
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