Actual Property expertise has traditionally been underfunded in comparison with different giant sectors. The present panorama is powered by 1000’s of disparate methods, with out an agreed to knowledge customary, making any important modernization of the trade extraordinarily difficult. For as a few years as I can bear in mind, there was fixed discuss in regards to the inevitable disruption of the true property trade, but little or no has modified over the previous 20 years. Nonetheless, the tide is lastly turning and PropTech has turn into mainstream. In line with the Middle for Actual Property Expertise & Innovation, investments in PropTech hit $32B in 2021.
As with all trade, significant change requires contributions and collaboration from many gamers, however there’s a small group of people who’ve a disproportionate degree of affect on the way forward for the PropTech trade. I made a decision to place collectively a listing of the 13 most influential PropTech leaders. This listing is solely my opinion. There was not a survey that I carried out, neither is there any science to my evaluation. The people usually are not ranked so as, however I did group them by classes.
Residential Brokerages
Many organizations publish their very own annual listing of essentially the most influential leaders in Actual Property, they usually virtually all the time embrace the C-Suite of the biggest residential brokerages (Realogy/Berkshire Hathaway Dwelling Providers). I’ve great respect for the executives from each organizations, they usually clearly yield a big quantity of affect over the trade, however each corporations function what I might contemplate to be conventional actual property brokerages. I anticipate that conventional brokerages will proceed to dominate market share for the foreseeable future, they usually present an important service to tens of millions of shoppers per 12 months. However, I don’t see both firm essentially altering the trade. Their fashions are tried and true, and though they’ll proceed to adapt to modifications, I don’t see them as pioneers. Change requires innovation and new methods of considering, and every individual on this listing has demonstrated their skill to convey distinctive fashions to market.
Glenn Sanford (eXp Realty)
Beginning an actual property model isn’t any small feat, and most corporations which are making an attempt to make a reputation for themselves usually go after the posh market. In the event that they open stunning places of work in prestigious zip codes, recruit high brokers with giant bonuses, and rating some ultra-luxury listings, they will shortly (however expensively) construct a model round shiny advertising collateral. eXp took a distinct route. eXp, which initially launched in 2009, centered their development technique on agent depend and digital places of work. They ended 2021 with over 70,000 brokers, representing a 69% enhance from the prior 12 months. Glenn Sanford (Founder and CEO of eXp Realty) not too long ago introduced that they need to develop this quantity to 500,000 brokers throughout the subsequent 5 years. Agent depend apart, their enterprise mannequin is predicated totally round a digital neighborhood. While you evaluate this technique to conventional gamers with brick and mortar places of work in each market that they serve (Realogy’s has approx. 670 firm owned places of work), there may be important value financial savings that may be funneled right down to brokers and the corporate backside line.
Glenn Kelman (Redfin)
As I’ve written about previously, I don’t consider that the trail in direction of disruption runs by fee discounting. Too many corporations have tried and did not construct a sustainable enterprise round decreased commissions. There’s one exception to this rule: Redfin. Redfin isn’t a brand new participant (they’ve been round since 2002), however they’ve continued to outpace the market with their distinctive mannequin. In contrast to most corporations that consider that listings are king, Redfin initially devoted all of their sources in direction of consumers. They constructed a really pleasant UI, and completely dominated in search engine optimization/SEM. In line with Statista, Redfin.com was the most well-liked web site for search in 2021 for any web site that was owned and operated by a residential brokerage (18M Distinctive Month-to-month Guests). Throughout my time working at brokerages that competed with Redfin, it was frequent that our shoppers would inform us that they carried out their search on Redfin’s web site. After increase market share throughout the nation, they expanded into the itemizing enterprise, providing a steep low cost when shoppers purchase and promote by them. Profitability (or lack thereof) has been a criticism that Redfin has confronted, however I consider that they’ve laid the inspiration for worthwhile development within the years to return.
Robert Reffkin (Compass)
Previously, I’ve questioned Compass’s skill to ever be worthwhile. This concern stays for me. Compass, in my view, is a standard brokerage (fancy places of work, excessive agent splits, conventional charge construction) which is in step with the Realogy and Berkshire Hathaway Properties Providers of the world, however they constructed one thing really particular which is in contrast to something I’ve seen earlier than them. Over 8 years, Compass has recruited 20,000 brokers (some got here by M/A), opened up a whole bunch of places of work, has gone public, and has turn into a family title. What actually units Compass other than their friends is their tradition. Each firm has horror tales, and I’m positive that Compass isn’t any completely different, however from the skin trying in, the vast majority of their brokers venture a fierce loyalty like I’ve by no means seen within the brokerage world. If I had been a gross sales affiliate getting into the trade, Compass could be on the high of my listing. The argument could be made that anybody with $1.15B in money might accomplish this degree of development, however I disagree. Robert Reffkin (Co-Founder and CEO) has constructed a tradition stuffed with firm pleasure that’s often solely discovered within the Googles and Apples of the world. On the flip aspect, I don’t consider that their present enterprise mannequin is sustainable in the long run, however I do have religion that they’ve what it takes to outlive and thrive. Their success can be tied to their skill to create a real end-to-end working system which might essentially change the trade. In contrast to a standard CRM, the successful working system might want to reveal true efficiencies for each agent and shopper, whereas seamlessly integrating mortgage, title, and different companies that are a part of a typical transaction. The query stays whether or not they can proceed to construct market share at their present tempo, whereas pivoting their mannequin to be extra sustainable in the long term. Going public offered the corporate with more money, however it additionally signaled the tip of a continuing circulate of contemporary capital from VCs.
The Disrupter
Eric Wu (Opendoor)
Many corporations have tried to disrupt the residential actual property brokerage trade. Most of them have both gone out of enterprise or have pivoted to a standard mannequin. Most disruptors concentrate on fee discount, and again and again that technique fails. iBuying is the one largest change to the residential actual property brokerage trade in a long time. Eric Wu is the Co-Founder and CEO of Opendoor. Opendoor launched the idea of iBuying in 2014. They raised over $1B of enterprise capital earlier than going public in December of 2020. Since that point, many different corporations have entered the iBuyer enterprise, however no different participant has come near their development trajectory. Opendoor has continued to speed up their development and is by far the biggest participant within the house. Whereas iBuyers nonetheless represents only one% of all residential transactions, that quantity is poised to develop considerably as Opendoor (and a few of their opponents) increase into new cities throughout the nation.
Try my prior article on iBuyers right here
The Kingmakers
Beginning a enterprise is tough. Many corporations with nice concepts fail as a result of they run out of cash. Capital is crucial for all companies, however that’s solely half the battle. Equally, if no more necessary, is buyer adoption. Think about getting each from the identical place. Strategic traders have the potential to just about assure the success of a enterprise (assuming that the options they spend money on work), by offering capital together with a built-in buyer base. There are 2 kinds of Strategic Traders which are included on this listing. The primary sort are conventional VC corporations which have raised capital from giant actual property homeowners. The VC locations bets on behalf of the proprietor, and the proprietor is then prone to deploy the options all through their portfolio. The second sort of corporations are giant Actual Property homeowners which have fashioned their very own in-house enterprise arm.
Brad Greiwe / Brendan Wallace (Fifth Wall)
Fifth Wall is a enterprise capital agency that focuses on investing in “Constructed World Applied sciences”. Moreover having a eager eye for putting bets on successful corporations, Fifth Wall is uniquely positioned to crown winners in rising areas partly attributable to who they’ve raised funds from. Their first fund was centered on the US, they usually raised funds from Actual Property royalty together with Fairness Residential, Lennar, Prologis, CBRE, Hines, Host Resorts, Lowes, Macerich Properties, and Rudin Administration Firm. Their Fund II took that mannequin internationally, and immediately the agency has roughly $3.0 billion in commitments and capital beneath administration, from an excellent bigger group of actual property homeowners which incorporates 90+ international strategic companions from greater than 15 international locations. In 2021, Fifth Wall raised $1.1B throughout their funds The capital and steerage that Fifth Wall supplies to their portfolio corporations represents solely a part of the worth that they bring about to the desk. As a result of they’re investing funds on behalf of the biggest Actual Property homeowners of the world, there’s a large incentive for these corporations to deploy related options from the portfolio corporations all through their huge actual property holdings.
Try my prior interview with Fifth Wall right here
Zack Aarons / Aaron Block (MetaProp)
There are literally thousands of VC corporations within the US with many various funding theses, however MetaProp is solely centered on PropTech. They’re the biggest international seed fund they usually personal the early stage section. MetaProp has made some massive bets through the years, with investments in over 150 corporations. Just like Fifth Wall, MetaProp additionally raises some funds from strategic traders who personal a complete of 20B+ sq. toes throughout each actual property asset class. An funding from MetaProp can almost assure adoption of an answer. Prior investments from MetaProp embrace HqO, Occupier, Spruce, Bowery, Aspect, and Dongnae.
Jon Korngold / John Fitzpatrick (Blackstone)
Whereas many actual property homeowners are investing in PropTech corporations by inserting bets by a standard VC, a few of the largest gamers have created their very own enterprise arm and are investing in corporations instantly. Blackstone is a huge in the true property house with a worldwide portfolio valued at $448B. Blackstone’s holdings embrace nearly each actual property asset class, in order that they have an enormous sandbox to deploy many kinds of PropTech options. A few of the investments that they’ve made embrace DealPath, Zumper, iCapital Networks, and Aquicore. John Korngold is the World Co-Head of Expertise Investing, and John Fitzpatrick is the Senior Managing Director and Chief Expertise Officer of Various Asset Administration Expertise at Blackstone. Each play a crucial position in figuring out which corporations Blackstone invests in, and due to this fact maintain the keys to crowning winners.
William O’Donnell (Prologis)
Prologis, an actual property big who owns virtually 1B sq. of logistics actual property, fashioned a enterprise arm in 2016. Not solely does their scale present an unlimited built-in buyer base, however it additionally supplies them with invaluable perception in regards to the ache factors and expertise wants of logistics corporations. Prologis’s funding thesis is to spend money on applied sciences that may profit their firm and their buyer base by creating new income streams, rising efficiencies, decreasing prices, and making optimistic contributions to sustainability. As I coated in a previous article, William O’Donnell (Prologis Ventures’ Managing Associate) shared the next perception: “We’re a really thesis pushed investor. We perceive the place ache factors are, and the way we, as an organization, can discover alternatives to enhance our operations. However we additionally spend a ton of time with our clients understanding actually what’s driving change inside their group and the place they’re experiencing friction. So with that perception, we exit and discover options that match these alternatives.” Prologis has made 35 investments in logistics tech, property tech and sustainability. Along with investing in third social gathering corporations, Prologis not too long ago launched an EV charging infrastructure enterprise and continues to speculate closely in rising their photo voltaic platform together with different sustainability-focused options for his or her clients. A few of Prologis’s prior investments embrace Flexport, Locus, Flexe and Platform Science.
Jim Whalen (Boston Properties)
Boston Properties is the biggest publicly traded developer, proprietor, and supervisor of Class A workplace properties in america. Though Boston Properties doesn’t have a enterprise arm, they’re on the forefront of expertise deployment. I first met Jim (Chief Info & Expertise Officer of Boston Properties) in the summertime of 2021. I used to be blown away by his considerate imaginative and prescient on the way forward for the PropTech trade. What actually impressed me about Jim is how usually his title has come up in conversations that I’ve had with PropTech executives. I spend loads of my time assembly with Actual Property and PropTech leaders, and I’ve misplaced depend of the quantity of instances that they’ve referenced his title to me in conversations. Not solely do the trade gamers respect him, however lots of them inform me that they appear to him for steerage on the place the trade goes. It might be arduous to seek out somebody extra revered than Jim within the workplace sector.
The Incumbent
Andrew Florance (CoStar Group)
In terms of actual property knowledge, analytics and on-line marketplaces there may be one firm who guidelines the trade: CoStar Group. I don’t consider that there’s anybody in the true property trade that doesn’t use CoStar or considered one of its’ on-line marketplaces in a technique or one other. CoStar’s knowledge and analytics not solely powers homeowners, traders, lenders and the brokerage trade, it additionally supplies perception to 1000’s of distributors that promote to business tenants. After dominating business actual property for a few years, CoStar Group not too long ago made an enormous leap into residential actual property with acquisitions together with Homesnap and Properties.com. CoStar Group is making an attempt to unseat the present chief in Residential Search: Zillow. Costar Group can be within the strategy of working with REBNY to go to battle with the present chief StreetEasy (StreetEasy is a Zillow firm) within the ultra-competitive NYC residential trade.
Nick Romito (VTS)
VTS supplies software program which is utilized by virtually each Business Actual Property proprietor and supervisor within the US. In 2021, VTS made a number of highly effective strikes to capitalize on their properly revered title and big buyer base by increasing their product providing. First, they entered the house which is at the moment dominated by CoStar with the launch of their Market, and rolled out a collection of instruments together with a full CMS, analytics portal, and distribution middle for each house. Then, they acquired 2 of the biggest Tenant Expertise gamers: RiseBuildings and Lane. Their present buyer relationships have been opening doorways for them simply as most of the largest business homeowners are making portfolio huge selections on which tenant apps they’re going to deploy. VTS now has an arsenal of options to do every part from advertising areas, to asset administration, to powering good buildings.
Royalty
Spencer Rascoff (Pacaso)
Few individuals have had as many profitable ventures as Spencer Rascoff. A couple of of the businesses that he based embrace Hotwire, Zillow, and Pacaso. Beneath Spencer’s watch at Zillow, the corporate acquired 15 corporations, went public, and dominated the true property search trade. Spencer formally departed Zillow in April 2021. After Spencer left Zillow, the brand new management made a sequence of missteps with the corporate’s iBuyer enterprise. These selections resulted in one of many largest blunders in PropTech historical past, inflicting their inventory value to drop by 52%. Whereas Zillow’s new administration workforce continues to be cleansing up the mess made by their unhealthy selections, Spencer has stored his scorching streak alive by scaling different ventures that he has invested in. For instance, Pacaso, which he co-founded in October 2020, was topped a Unicorn quicker than any firm ever. Extra investments that Spencer has made in PropTech corporations together with Offerpad, Doma, Flyhomes, Ribbon, VTS, Aspect, EasyKnock, and Radius Agent.
Michael Beckerman (CREtech)
There are various commerce teams, consulting corporations, and different organizations that serve to maintain the true property trade knowledgeable and educated on actual property tech, however none are extra influential than CREtech. Michael Beckerman is the CEO of CREtech which payments itself as the biggest occasion, consulting, and content material platform within the business actual property tech sector. Michael is among the most properly revered thought leaders within the PropTech trade. As most corporations switched to digital solely conferences through the Pandemic, CREtech pushed ahead with a sequence of dwell occasions in 2021. I attended their NYC convention in October, and was so impressed with their skill to drag collectively all the Who’s Who of the trade right into a single dwell occasion. I observe Michael and CREtech religiously, and I extremely suggest them to anybody trying to increase their data in PropTech. Be taught extra about CREtech right here.
I’m all for listening to your suggestions. When you really feel as if I missed anybody, please add your ideas within the feedback under.