For those of you who do not know, there is a derivative initiative of NAR’s Second Century Ventrures venture capital fund called REach. The REach program has a grand board of advisors, and a board of mentors. The program requests submissions from companies who are looking to enter the real estate industry. If selected, the REach programs provides support and advisory services to these businesses so that they hit the ground running with some industry awareness.
Here are the top 6
BombBomb – Provides a complete e-mail and video marketing platform for developing, sending and tracking results of traditional and video e-mail campaigns from any device.
Lumentus – Gives companies a measurable edge in identifying, understanding and engaging social media communities keeping social media communications on brand and on mission.
Planwise – Offers a financial planning service that enables individuals to plan for major life events by simply and visually testing real-life scenarios.
Reach150 – Provides a turnkey referral platform for service professionals to quickly build a positive reputation online.
Updater – Provides a free service for anyone who is moving to easily forward mail, update accounts, transfer utilities, and sign up for home services in a single location. — Workface – Offers a unique, quick-to-deploy live chat (text, audio and video) software platform for real time one-on-one conversations at a customer’s moment of interest.
It will be very interesting to track the progress of these companies over the next 12 months. As with all new NAR initiatives, there is always a draft of scuttlebutt and water cooler critics. I encourage people to belay judgement until they have been provided with time and opportunity to launch and tune the program. It is great that NAR is making an effort to support industry growth – an initiative that is clearly within the purview of a trade organization.
Press Release:
WASHINGTON, DC, Mar 26, 2013 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — REach(TM), an Accelerator program developed by Second Century Ventures (SCV), the strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors(R) to introduce innovative technology companies to the real estate marketplace, today named six companies to join its 2013 class. SCV developed REach(TM) to offer technology startups premier access to the more than 1 million Realtors(R) driving the $1 trillion U.S. real estate market. The companies selected to join are BombBomb, Lumentus, Planwise, Reach150, Updater, and Workface.
“After a careful selection process, we are honored to announce the six companies that have agreed to become charter members of NAR REach(TM),” said Dale Stinton, NAR chief executive officer and president of the REach(TM) accelerator. “Each of these startups brings unique potential to serve the real estate market and beyond, underscoring our commitment to supporting the very best companies and technology that can benefit our industry and our membership.”
REach(TM) provides education, mentorship and market exposure to help its portfolio companies access the trillion-dollar real estate market and leverage NAR’s strategic expertise. Participating companies interact with highly regarded executives, entrepreneurs, and practitioners who run, manage or have sold real estate companies with a combined multibillion dollars of revenues and marketing spend. In the process, REach(TM) also fulfills NAR’s core mission by identifying technologies, resources and companies that will benefit the industry and its members.
REach(TM) received more than 130 applications from high-growth technology companies. The six companies entering the accelerator were selected after a comprehensive review of their respective business models, ability to execute their business plans and potential to penetrate real estate and other industries with the assistance provided by membership in the REach(TM) program.
This week, executives from the REach(TM) companies are gathering at NAR’s headquarters in Chicago for individual meetings with REach(TM) advisors, mentors and NAR’s CEO Dale Stinton. The companies will receive a full overview on the industry, insights into how buyers and sellers make decisions, and coaching on best practices for reaching and engaging real estate technology buyers.
Second Century Ventures is a venture capital fund focused on promoting innovation in the real estate industry and helping to enable the entrepreneurial spirit of real estate thrive. SCV has been fully capitalized by the National Association of Realtors(R). NAR can provide immediate strategic value to SCV’s portfolio companies by allowing them access to the vast resources of a 300-person organization with expertise, influence and power that comes only by being ingrained in an industry for over 100 years.
The National Association of Realtors(R), “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.
Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org and about REach(TM) at http://narreach.com. This and other news releases are posted in the “News, Blogs and Videos” tab on the Realtor.org website.
For more information contact: Constance Freeman 312-329-3297 Email Contact Stephanie Singer 202-383-1050 Email Contact
SOURCE: National Association of Realtors
I wish them all well and much success. The challenge in the real eatate industry is not innovation, it’s execution and funding. Hopefully NAR and the advisory group can assist with this and these companies will go on to be wildly successul! Good luck!