Bloodbath: How $1.4B in Investor Money Is Threatening the Real Estate Tech Industry
Although more than $1.4B is expected to be poured into real estate tech startups this year, the competition is manically fierce. Compare that number to the $438M just two years ago and it makes sense.
"It's pretty easy to get a meeting if you are disrupting something in real estate," data company Reonomy CEO Richard Sarkis says. But CEO of virtual tour company Floored Dave Eisenberg calls it a "bloodbath" out there.
Just because a faster, more efficient software comes out doesn't mean a tech firm will succeed. For years, tech companies have been trying to make brokers go extinct without avail.
"The reason there’s a graveyard of technology companies in real estate is they try to disrupt just to disrupt," says Robert Reffkin, CEO of Compass, a technology-driven real estate brokerage.
Tech firms fail to replicate the hand-holding that buyers and renters need when making such big decisions. "Just make it better," Robert says.
The next sector of the industry for attempted domination may be construction, with startups like FieldLens on the way. But future success is uncertain, though drones and augmented reality have been making headway lately. [WSJ]
