PropTech Thrives in 2021

Tech-enabled companies are swarming the property and real estate markets and the reason is not only because there is increasing demand, but also because there has been limited innovation in the space to date. With the rise of the Internet, we have seen online aggregators like Zillow help consumers find suitable homes to purchase or rent. With more advanced technology, PropTech has expanded from reimagining construction processes to offering end-to-end customer solutions for residential transactions.

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• Compass is a New York-headquartered real estate technology company that aggregates property listings and also provides an end-to-end platform to support the buying and selling workflow. With increasing home sales, Compass has benefited from the pandemic and confidentially filed its S-1 to go public this month.
• OpenDoor operates a marketplace for buying and selling homes, directly with homeowners. The company offers direct cash payment to the seller and then makes renovations and repairs to the home before it is sold on the OpenDoor marketplace. The San Francisco-based company went public in December 2020 via a SPAC, merging with Social Capital Hedosophia II.
• Built Technologies powers the construction industry, using technology to streamline the construction lending process. The company is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised its B round funding in 2019 with investors, including Goldman Sachs. 
• Qualia is a digital real estate transaction management company that helps simplify the real estate closing process. Founded in 2015 in San Francisco, the company entered the unicorn club recently when it secured its D round of funding, led by Tiger Global Management. With the funding, the company also acquired Adeptive Software, a company that is known for its complimentary title and escrow production software.
• RentPath operates a number of brands focused on rental properties for consumers. The company had announced it would be acquired by CoStar Group at the beginning of 2020 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The acquisition was unsuccessful after the FTC moved to block the decision citing the lack of competition post-merger. 
• Yardi Systems offers asset and property management software for property owners to manage leases and collect rent. The company was founded in 1984 in Goleta, California, and has operations around the world.
• Saltbox operates in the property space by focusing on warehouses. The WeWork of modern eCommerce, the company rents out spaces to eCommerce companies marrying co-working with raw warehouse space. The company was founded in 2019 out of Atlanta, Georgia.