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Matterport, the company that commercialized 3D listing tours and made the industry familiar with the term “digital twin,” has set yet another benchmark for digitally immersive real estate marketing with the creation of Genesis.
In a company blog post, Matterport called its new technology a byproduct of its place in real estate, a result of having more than 30 billion square feet under management, the company’s term for “scanned properties.”
Upon its release (a date was not provided), Genesis will enable users to quickly insert, move, edit and redesign interiors within created spaces. This should appeal heavily to interior designers, staging professionals, aspiring home buyers, listing agents and commercial property landlords, among others.
“Matterport has been at the forefront of the digital transformation of the built world for more than a decade, fueled by our early advances in artificial intelligence,” said RJ Pittman, Chairman and CEO of Matterport, in a statement. “Genesis is the continuation of that strategy to help Matterport and its partners create transformational digital experiences for properties and improve operations in buildings worldwide.”
Genesis is the marriage of the benefits of generative AI and the sheer volume of Matterport’s 3D spatial data compendium. Artificial intelligence can do a lot with that much information and when bolstered by the company’s existing technologies, Cortex AI and Property Intelligence.
Virtual interior design is merely the beginning for this kind of live-3D versatility. Construction projects and renovations, for example, can be better visualized and even linked to a connected database or third-party costing algorithm to adjust budgets as a room and its contents are dynamically regenerated.
It’s also ideal for testing building designs against energy usage according to window placement, air movement and other internal environmental behaviors. It can be applied to security and safety practices by identifying risk-prone byproducts of a building’s design, such as blind corners, misplaced fire hazards and areas of reduced lighting.
Matterport has had a busy first half of 2023. In addition to a major software release, in May, the company overhauled its subscription plans to add flexibility in the way accounts are leveraged by clients.
Listing agents who use the popular digital tour software to market homes can now “fine-tune the number of space on your plan,” according to the company.
In February, it also rolled out Matterport Pro, a multi-pronged marketing service for real estate agents. The program includes its most well-known home-tour product with dollhouse view, 25 or more high-end still photos, a static 2D floor plan and a 10-15 second preview reel, all delivered within two business days, the company said in a Feb. 15 announcement.
In its May 9 earnings call, Matterport told shareholders, analysts and media attendees that total revenue for the first quarter of 2023 (Q1) was $38 million, a 33 percent increase from Q1 last year.
Despite predicting last quarter that subscription numbers would be flat to start the year, total subscribers actually increased to 771,000, up 37 percent year over year. That jump boosted first-quarter subscription revenue to $19.8 million, up 16 percent from this time last year.
“This will greatly simplify property marketing, space planning, construction, property management and maintenance for all of our customers, old and new,” Pittman said.
