REach©, an accelerator program developed by the National Association of REALTORS®’s strategic investment arm, Second Century Ventures (SCV), to introduce innovative technology companies to the real estate marketplace, today announced the selection of eight companies to its 2014 class.
The companies entering the REach accelerator program are:
• Back At You Media – Provides a complete lead generation and communication technology for social media.
• Deductr – Helps independent contractors and small business owners keep their hard-earned money by automatically tracking expenses, mileage and time.
• Desktime – Helps brokers, business owners and landlords build relationships and earn extra income by helping clients turn unused office space into cash.
• Fundwell – Connects small businesses with prequalified lenders that will fund their real estate needs and business expansion plans.
• Goby – Tracks energy utilization in buildings to optimize efficiency and regulatory reporting.
• SendHub – Offers an all-inclusive business phone suite that features mobile, flexible, and connected telephony for real estate professionals.
• Smartzip – Uses the power of big data to help agents win listings by identifying top home seller prospects accurately and reaching them through targeted online, social and offline marketing campaigns.
• Wevideo – Provides video editing, collaboration, and sharing across any device, including mobile, tablets, laptops and desktops.
“The future of our industry increasingly depends on fast, seamless adoption of technology that benefits home buyers, sellers and investors at every step of a real estate transaction, from prospecting to closing,” says Dale Stinton, president of Second Century Ventures, NAR CEO and chairman of SCV. “We designed REach to help early-stage companies realize ideas that serve the real estate market and beyond. The companies joining REach today exemplify NAR’s commitment to fostering technology designed to support and enrich our Realtor® members and their business.”
“Following the success of last year’s inaugural program, we had a tremendous response from high-quality applicants for the REach 2014 class. This year’s class is composed of companies graduated from top accelerators such as Y Combinator and backed by well-known venture capital firms such as Intel Capital, Javelin Capital, 500 Startups Crest Capital and Menlo Venture Partners,” says Constance Freeman, managing director at SCV and founder and managing director of REach. “We also are pleased to be joined for the first time by companies that address commercial real estate as their primary market.”
Companies invited to enter the 2014 cohort were selected after a comprehensive review of their business, their management, the potential benefit their products and services will bring to NAR members, and the advantages that participants may accrue from association with REach, its mentors, NAR and its Realtor® members.
REach is managed by SCV, the strategic venture arm of NAR. The accelerator annually selects fewer than a dozen companies to access one of the world’s largest industries and its leadership. NAR members can sign up to test products and services of new REach companies through the NAR Insight Panel at http://www.narreach.com/realtors.
Second Century Ventures promotes innovation in the real estate industry and helps its entrepreneurial spirit thrive. NAR provides immediate strategic value to SCV portfolio companies by allowing them access to NAR’s 1 million members and the vast resources of a 300-person organization with the expertise, influence and power that comes only by being ingrained in an industry for over 100 years.
Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org.
