Second Century Ventures Announces 14 Companies for 2023 REACH Scale-Up Program
Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors, announced the acceptance of 14 companies to the 2023 REACH and REACH Commercial programs. Launched in 2013, this marks the 11th cohort focused on solutions for the residential and consumer sectors, and the fifth cohort dedicated to scaling solutions for commercial real estate. "We are thrilled to welcome these innovative companies to the 2023 REACH and REACH Commercial programs," said SCV President and NAR CEO Bob Goldberg. "Their solutions are poised to make a significant impact and help overcome the complex challenges that lie ahead in the real estate industry." Companies selected for the 2023 program represent a diverse range of solutions across the real estate ecosystem, including innovations in financial planning, second home property ownership, property management, lead generation, marketing, mortgage asset management, and tenant retention, among others. Collectively, these companies have raised more than $100 million in funding and employ more than 400 individuals worldwide. "These 14 companies represent some of the most promising and innovative solutions in the real estate technology space," said Dave Garland, managing partner, Second Century Ventures. "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." Companies accepted to the 2023 REACH and REACH Commercial programs are as follows: 2023 REACH 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. 2023 REACH Commercial APM Help: stress-free property management solutions prioritizing quality and customer service and leveraging expertise in finance, operations and accounting. BlueStreak IoT: improves the efficiency and performance of services in commercial real estate, including ScentBridge's ambient scent delivery, indoor air quality monitoring, clean air as a service, resource utilization, replenishment management and performance compliance. Dwellwell Analytics: a comprehensive monitoring and early warning maintenance platform for residential property owners who need to reduce operating costs and avert disasters. Fortress PropTech: offers an innovative and easy-to-use platform, utilizing automation technology and data integration to streamline property management and maximize efficiency. Fyma: delivers occupancy and human activity analytics to enable better asset management and property operations. Rockport: provides mission critical commercial real estate systems to the top financial institutions in the world. Work & Mother: commercial lactation suite service with an associated technology that satisfies tenants' legal obligations of providing mother's rooms, while providing a better way to support working parents. "From hundreds of applicants, the companies selected for the 2023 REACH Commercial program are already well on their way to becoming market leaders," said Bob Gillespie, executive director of REACH Commercial. "They bring solutions that fundamentally change commercial real estate operations, finance and brokerage, as well as how we manage, experience and understand the properties in which we live and work. We have an outstanding 2023 cohort and look forward to helping them achieve exponential growth." The REACH program is led by Executive Director Ashley Stinton, and the REACH Commercial program is led by Executive Director Bob Gillespie. REACH offers a robust curriculum including education, mentorship, exclusive networking opportunities and significant exposure to the global real estate marketplace. To learn more about REACH and how you can get involved, visit nar-reach.com.

4 Companies Compete in Matterport's Space Jam
Matterport recently held a competition among technology vendors who are developing software that extends the Matterport scan for real estate marketing. The Space Jam competition featured four companies who leverage the Matterport software development toolkit (SDK) to deliver additional features around a Matterport scan. Matterport, now a publicly traded company, continues its growth both domestically and internationally as the leader in property scanning. The company is trying to differentiate itself from virtual tours by adopting the term "digital twin." Matterport creates an exact digital replica. Before we jump into the companies who were in competition at Space Jam, you should know that Matterport itself added some great new editing tools. The first tool is Notes. It allows agents to leave notes in the room that provide additional information to the viewer. A measurement tool and a blur tool have also been added. Matterport Partner integrations Although only four companies were selected for the Space Jam, Matterport has over 100 partners. This adds a lot of value to the core Matterport digital twin and dollhouse offering. If you are investing in Matterport scans, be sure to look into the many applications that extend or enhance the value of that investment. Captur3d: Steven Kounnas – Winner of the Space Jam Captur3ed – pronounced "captured" – won the Space Jam. Many of these companies have similar functionality, but Captur3ed seemed to offer the best user experience. Captur3d creates an entire marketing suite for your Matterport tour: post-production editing, website, floorplan, location based audio and video—embed agent or voice overview of room. Virtually staged furniture, search engine optimization and meta data, photo retouching. This is a company that you definitely want to check out. Agent Relay: Dan Cattermole Agent Relay was the first presenter and probably in second place in Space Jam. The keynote of Agent Relay is the ability to co-view your Matterport scan with a client like a Zoom call. They have also layered a variety of lead conversion tools and analytic tools. Agents can show property remotely in an instant and the platform comes standard with a single property website. Treedis Treedis was similar to the others above, offering live video chat like Agent Relay and tours that are branded. Agents can virtually stage properties from a library of furniture and fixtures, and offer clients virtual showings. VRPM: Mike Merron VRPM has most of the features listed above. Overall, it seemed like this company specializes in providing excellent designers to do the virtual staging for you. Specifically, they showed many examples where they took a framed, empty spaced and brought it to life with multiple design concepts. This may be the best tool for commercial real estate or an empty house. Their superpower is in design.

Everything You Need to Know About ISAs (Licensing)
This post comes to us from the BoomTown blog: So you've decided to switch over to the ISA (Inside Sales Agent) model. Kudos to you! I bet you have some questions about the specifics of it all. Our own BoomTown users have also been asking some very good questions regarding ISAs. I've gathered some insights (from our awesome BoomTown owners!) on the most frequently asked questions in our forum. Should ISAs Be Licensed? Agents and Brokers Who Say No Although ISAs are typically licensed, there are some real estate agents who prefer their ISAs to be unlicensed. Their reasoning is that often times, the consumer just wants a quick answer to a question and then they will be off the phone. If the ISA is not licensed, they have a good reason for transferring the lead to a buyers agent who is better qualified to not only answer their question, but also to steer the conversation toward closing a deal. A particular broker shared that he would rather have the agents qualify the leads themselves, instead of the ISA. This broker felt that this way the consumer was more likely to step into the physical office, where the agent has a better opportunity to "sell" their company, and in turn, to sell homes.