EXCLUSIVE: Dealpath Integrates Deal Management Data With Popular Property Management Platforms
In an effort to streamline processes for customers, real estate deal management platform Dealpath has enabled users to integrate data into property management giants Yardi and MRI Software.
Users can now integrate information from the startup's platform into Yardi and MRI Software systems, allowing customers to transfer data from one platform to the next and eliminating duplicate data entry.
“It's a pretty significant announcement for us,” Dealpath CEO Michael Sroka told Bisnow. “Dealpath has built out and exposed a third-party [application programming interface] to allow customers and partners to be able to easily access their data in real time.”
Now institutional investors and landlords can use Dealpath to evaluate, manage and execute deals and then stream that information into Yardi or MRI’s system.
“Over the past three or four years there’s been an enormous amount of investment in commercial real estate software services and new tools that the industry is adopting. That’s fantastic to have better tools for these things, [but] as we roll out those tools it’s really critical that those tools can work together and they have platforms that tie [them] all together,” Sroka said. “We want to be the command center for institutional firms to evaluate and execute deals.”
CRETech.com founder and CEO Michael Beckerman told Bisnow the industry will continue to see integrations like these as the real estate tech ecosystem matures.
“Brilliant move on their part,” Beckerman said. “We are hearing over and over again from landlords, brokers and investors in CRE tech that they want startups to be integrating with each other to provide one port of entry into tech applications. We are seeing this type of integration really accelerate as a result. So expect more and more startups to be announcing integrations like this.”
Creating Value For The Customer
Data in the commercial real estate industry is gold. Traditionally, commercial real estate firms were somewhat reluctant to share data, as it was perceived that the more data and intel a firm had in its arsenal, the greater its competitive edge. But times are changing, and technology is making the industry more transparent and data more readily available.
"MRI Software has long been a champion of a truly open real estate software ecosystem," MRI Software CEO Patrick Ghilani said in a statement. "Dealpath’s decision to open APIs to their platform echoes our goal of putting users first and protecting data integrity, and is yet another major step forward in the push towards open and connected real estate software.”
For startups like Dealpath and leasing and asset management platform VTS — which has created similar collaborative integrations with Yardi, Compstak and MRI Software — interfacing with other software solutions that provide equally valuable tools for customers is crucial.
“It’s what everyone in the industry is looking for right now, having the ability to see all their data in one place,” MetaProp co-founder Zach Aarons told Bisnow. The New York City-based tech accelerator was an investor in Dealpath’s seed round in early 2015, Aarons said.
Dealpath was designed from the start for interoperability and to interface with other systems in hopes of enhancing the customer experience. By opening its third-party API, the company welcomes users to build a solid tech stack of software solutions that can transfer data from one system to the next in real time and improve workflow.
“It's significant that Yardi saw enough value in doing this,” Aarons said, explaining that for a 40-year-old software system like Yardi to create a path for integration, “it’s like moving a battleship to get that code base to change.”
“There has to be a real path for revenue for [Yardi],” he said.
San Francisco-based Dealpath’s customers are largely institutional investors, Sroka said, namely REITs and real estate private equity firms that are deploying capital to acquire and/or manage assets.
The startup was founded in 2014 and is now supported in 14 countries. Dealpath has raised a total of $8M in funding, according to CrunchBase, and has supported more than $500B in deals evaluated using the platform.
CORRECTION, MAY 24, 3:28 P.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated Zach Aarons' title. He is the co-founder of MetaProp. The story has also been updated to reflect comments from MRI Software CEO Patrick Ghilani.
