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A company that automates the packaging of property information for buyers, investors and real estate agents has secured a seed round of $2 million, Inman has learned.
RealReports uses artificial intelligence to curate and categorize listing documents, data and insights, pulling from a wide range of sources for consumer-facing use in an array of sales environments, but especially listing presentations and home search. Financing was sourced from TTV Capital, Moderne Ventures and “other prominent venture capital firms,” according to a Feb. 5 press release shared with Inman.
“This new capital is a significant milestone for our team,” said James Rogers, co-founder and CEO of RealReports, in a statement. “It’s no secret that the fundraising environment for startups has been unusually difficult over the past year. We are thrilled to have such engaged and helpful investors join us in this round, and are more confident than ever before about our path forward.”
RealReports entered the market as Blockchain Home Registry to provide a method for securing one’s ownership of a home on the global digital ledger and claiming an NFT. Despite the growing understanding of these technologies, the message wasn’t quite landing. However, the company altered its direction to make what it knows about single-family homes a tool for agents and owners.
More than 30 data sources are gleaned and processed by the software’s AI to create what can be called a “Carfax” for homes. The concept of consolidating information about a home in report form has been in place for some time, most commonly manifesting in home management solutions like Milestones, CORE Home and LiveEasy. AreaHub, ClimateCheck and Reorzo, which provide similar models around environmental and location data, respectively.
There’s value in consumer information being singularly accessed; for the majority of the industry’s existence, agents have cobbled together sources of helpful community and regional information to assist in home transaction decisions. No longer do they or their clients have to visit zoning offices, request tax records, track down flood plain maps or research underground hazards to get a full picture of what they’re buying.
RealReports views its seed round as the start of a new way for agents to provide value to consumers, and its press release states that “real estate agents and brokerages are quickly seeking out new tools and resources to give them a competitive edge, differentiation, and a way to provide value to clients to justify their commission rates.”
Last year was another slow one for proptechs and venture capital. The Center for Real Estate Technology and Innovation reported a total of $11.38 billion invested in proptech in 2023, a “42.38 percent dip from the $19.75 billion invested in 2022 and a significant 64.44 percent decrease from 2021’s investment high of $32.0 billion.”
There has been some activity to note so far this year, on top of Real Reports’ $2 million. A roofing technology company called Roofer landed a $7.5 million seed investment to advance its computer vision-based roof analysis solution, and Overmoon, a company in the increasingly popular vacation rental market, secured $80 million in debt and equity funding to launch their tech-enabled solution for owners of vacation rentals.
