New York's AREA CRE Tech Accelerator Announces First Cohort Of Startups

AREA will help set six startups on the path to (hopefully) unicorn-dom this summer, and Bisnow has the scoop on who they are and what they’re about.

The CRE tech incubator was formally unveiled just last month, after years of careful foundation-laying by longtime commercial real estate professional and serial entrepreneur David Rose. Over the course of its 12-week program, AREA will provide the following startups with $50k in cash and services and provide mentorship, support and a communal working environment to help take them to the next level. Snapped above: John Henry, AREA's program director. 

1) Tobly

Tobly is a marketplace for commercial real estate construction equipment rentals—think cranes, scissor lifts, excavators and similarly major pieces of hardware. The startup’s pitch is that construction rentals is a nearly $40B market in the US, but it’s currently split among thousands of small, mom-and-pop-type outfits.

2) Zoner

Zoner provides in-depth zoning analysis for real estate development via a software-as-a-service model. The product is architect March Chadwick’s brainchild, borne out of a deep familiarity with zoning law acquired over decades spent in the business.

3) Founder House

This co-living startup is geared toward tech employees and tries to foster collaboration with amenities like large common areas and weekly speaker events with entrepreneurs. Foundherhouse currently operates three townhouses throughout Brooklyn and is looking at opening a fourth in the months ahead.

4) Spacio

This lead-managing app for residential brokers aims to streamline the process of growing and tracking leads, with several built-in tools and a customized dashboard for managing every step of the process.

5) Urbanr

Urbanr is trying to break into the lucrative residential rentals business with a website that streamlines the process of finding apartments that suit renters needs, à la Zillow or Streeteasy.

6) AtlasX

AtlasX is an entire operating system devoted solely to CRE acquisitions. Aimed at "organizations that own and manage $5B to $50B in assets and average deal sizes of $100M to $500M," AtlasX provides a number of tools to streamline the acquisition process, like a built-in messaging system and an interactive deal flow chart.