Second Century Ventures (SCV), the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) venture capital fund, has become a strategic investor in Trust Stamp, an identity authentication company that leverages artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies to analyze public records and social data, SCV recently announced.
“Second Century Ventures aims to develop and deliver technologies to innovate the real estate industry and help realty professionals to best serve buyers, sellers and clients,” says NAR President William E. Brown. “Investing in a fast, convenient and affordable tool like Trust Stamp to establish the identity and trustworthiness of a stranger will better help REALTORS® stay safe and protect clients and their home or property.”
Trust Stamp has created a real estate-specific webpage and mobile apps that are available only to NAR members and accessible via their NRDS number. Using the webpage or app, agents enter an individual’s email address or cell phone number and invite them to make a Trust Stamp. It takes only a few minutes for an individual to create a basic profile with a photo of his or her driver’s license, a selfie and links to one or more social accounts. Agents receive notification when the Trust Stamp is complete, along with the individual’s verified name, photo and trustworthiness score.
Trust Stamp, founded in 2015 by Gareth Genner and Andrew Gowasack, is one of eight companies that entered SCV’s vertical tech accelerator program, REach®, earlier this year.
“While our technology is in demand in many industries, REach offered us a unique opportunity to work directly with industry professionals to design a product that precisely matched he needs of real estate professionals,” says Gowasack, CEO of Trust Stamp. “As a result of that iterative discovery process, there is an overwhelming demand for Trust Stamp amongst the REALTOR® community and we estimate that over half a million REALTORS® will have installed the Trust Stamp application within 12 months of launch.”
“Most real estate professionals are juggling multiple business and client priorities and nearly always on the go; this makes an easy-to-use online and mobile tool—that’s also powerful—ideal to improve their business and personal safety,” says Dale Stinton, SCV president and NAR CEO. “Investing further in Trust Stamp, from a REach accelerator company to now a member of our strategic investments portfolio, demonstrates how much Trust Stamp has impressed us and how well we think the tool will do in the real estate industry and beyond.”
For more information, please visit truststamp.net/re or www.secondcenturyventures.com.
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