With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1081341
MARCH 2019 BCBUSINESS 23 PHOTOS: SILVERSTAR MOUNTAIN RESORT; TOM POOLE/REVELSTOKE MOUNTAIN RESORT; SKIER VISITS: DESTINATION B.C. M AT R I X ( the informer ) Propping Up Everywhere The real estate industry has long resisted change, but these proptech companies have other ideas by Nathan Caddell AUTOPROP BASED: Vancouver FOUNDER: Charlsy Dobell LAUNCHED: 2015 EMPLOYEES: 11 THE DL: Collects information from more than 125 property databases and collates them, allowing develop- ers and realtors to see the newest stats in real time and analyze how neighbourhoods and communities are shifting IT'S KINDA LIKE: Google Maps AVENUEHQ BASED: Vancouver FOUNDERS: Chris and Rebecca Troelstra LAUNCHED: 2013 (as RealtyButler, rebranded in 2018) EMPLOYEES: 90 THE DL: Helps agents manage their website, social media and marketing efforts IT'S KINDA LIKE: An advertising agency, but geared toward realtors IMBY BASED: Vancouver FOUNDERS: Michael Stephenson, Stephen Jagger, Leon Ng, Cam Good LAUNCHED: 2018 EMPLOYEES: 9 THE DL: IMBY, which stands for In My Backyard, lets users buy shares in residential properties for as low as $1 IT'S KINDA LIKE: Bitcoin. Except what you're buying is real. Though real estate and the crypto market seem to have similar levels of stabil- ity these days LENDESK BASED: Vancouver FOUNDER: Alex Conconi LAUNCHED: 2013 EMPLOYEES: 45 THE DL: Develops software for mortgage brokers IT'S KINDA LIKE: Vancouver-based Clio, but for the property set instead of the legal profession LIV.RENT BASED: Vancouver FOUNDER: Olivia Lam LAUNCHED: 2015 EMPLOYEES: 30 THE DL: Liv is a mobile app and website that digitizes the rental pro- cess, allowing renters and landlords to interact online IT'S KINDA LIKE: Craigslist, but with no scammers and some listings you won't find anywhere else. Also, landlords can use it to find tenants REAL ESTATE WEBMASTERS BASED: Nanaimo FOUNDER: Morgan Carey LAUNCHED: 2004 EMPLOYEES: 150 THE DL: Originally started to make websites for realtors, Real Estate Webmasters can now display details on properties for sale around a neighbourhood as you point your phone at them IT'S KINDA LIKE: Pokémon Go for real estate ■ H ere and elsewhere, the way we talk about real estate has been stagnant for some time: prices go up or down; you're a buyer or a seller; it's about condos, until it's not. But as the world goes digital, the landscape around B.C.'s most obsessively followed indus- try is shifting, too. Meet six players turning heads in the province's burgeoning prop- erty technology sector. New proptech investment hit US$5.2 billion world- wide in 2018, an increase of more than 50 percent from the previous year SOURCES: CB INSIGHTS, PWC GRAHAM ROUMIEU 2018 2017 $5.2B $3.4B US$7.3 billion Value of the global proptech industry in 2017 US$1.34 million Average deal size for proptech companies in the seed/angel round since 2009 380 Funding deals in the sector since 2009