Real Estate Board of New York honors PropTech Challenge winners

Manhattan, NY Software developers, real estate tech companies, brokers, owners, and investors came together for the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) PropTech Challenge held at The Rudin Family Project’s Forty One Madison Ave.

Participants competed for a grand total of $50,000 in cash and prizes across four challenge categories. The global real estate hackathon culminated in a Demo Day, during New York Real Estate Tech Week 2018, to showcase the top three finalists in each challenge category.

The PropTech Challenge welcomed 44 submissions from 82 participants across the United States and Bulgaria, Canada, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, and Zimbabwe.

The following teams were announced as the first place winners in each challenge category at the grand finale of the REBNY PropTech Challenge on November 8th:

Operations & Maintenance Category: Seeing Green by Prescriptive Data is a collection of tenant app features that aim to help building owners and tenants increase occupant engagement. Seeing Green leverages existing features from Prescriptive Data’s NANTUM Tenant Experience app and NANTUM Core and Shell products.

Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Development Category: StructionSite simplifies construction progress tracking. Using computer vision and machine learning, data from jobsite video recorded with a 360 camera is mapped into a 3D drawing.

Blockchain (DLS) Category: CredsBlock is a platform that decentralizes identity, builds reputation, and delivers attestation to help seed trust in real estate transactions.

Commercial Brokerage Category: HomeSpace360 empowers property marketers to create 3D virtual tours, along with 2D photography, directly on a smartphone.

A judging panel—comprised of REBNY members, industry experts, and sponsors—reviewed all submissions to determine the finalists in each challenge category according to the following criteria: quality of the idea, practical implementation of the idea, quality of submission materials, and potential value to industry professionals.

The panel of judges included: John Gilbert, III, Rudin Management Co.; Raj Bhatti, Newmark Knight Frank; Patrick O’Shei, NYSERDA; Matthew Montanes, JP Morgan Chase; Claire McIntyre, Oxford Props.; Brian Flaherty, Fisher Brothers; Carlos Valverde, Silverstein Props.; Chris Mayer, Suffolk Construction; Alexis McGuffin, Lendlease; Philip Skalaski, The Durst Org.; Nikko Politis, Jamestown; Eric Joshua Thomas, Cushman & Wakefield; Duke Long, PUR Ventures; Mark Domino, The Durst Org.; Robert Entin, Vornado Realty Trust; David Rose, Rose Tech Ventures; and Joe Rich, Related Cos.

Platinum sponsors for the PropTech Challenge were Newmark Knight Frank and Rudin Management Co., Inc. Gold sponsors were Suffolk Construction, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and NYSERDA. Challenge Round sponsors included Brookfield Property Partners, The Durst Org., Jamestown, Oxford Props. Group, Rockefeller Group, Silverstein Props., SL Green Realty Corp., Taconic Investment Partners, Vornado Realty Trust, Lendlease, Related Cos., and Fisher Brothers. Data sponsors were Cherre and We3. AV sponsors were Outernets.co and NYSERDA.

“Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all our partners, sponsors, and members of the REBNYTech Committee for this important effort to promote innovation focusing on the needs of New York City’s real estate market,” said John Banks, REBNY president. “We’re excited to watch the continued development of new technology tools that are arising from the PropTech Challenge.”

“The outpouring of interest in the PropTech Challenge from around the world has been overwhelming,” said Sandy Jacolow, chief information officer at Meridian Capital Group, who leads the team that conceptualized and organized the PropTech Challenge. “This competition supports the growth of tech innovation in the real estate industry by showcasing creativity and fostering relationships. Congratulations to the winners and sincere thanks to all of the judges, finalists, and our sponsors for their participation.”             

“All of the PropTech Challenge participants deserve credit for their creativity, passion, and entrepreneurial spirit,” said REBNYTech Committee co-chair John Gilbert III, COO and executive vice president at Rudin Management Co. “There is tremendous enthusiasm for the sharing of ideas and solutions between the real estate and tech communities. Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who participated in this path-breaking effort.”

“We were thrilled to be part of the PropTech Challenge and to help bring together such bright and talented entrepreneurs in the property and technology industries,” said REBNYTech Committee co-chair, Winston Fisher, partner at Fisher Brothers. “It is an inspiration to watch these finalists work towards creating cutting-edge solutions to real-world challenges faced by real estate companies across the world.”

“When people think of technology, they don’t often think of real estate. But these days, technology is influencing every aspect of the field and these PropTech submissions show it undeniably.” Brandon Kessler, CEO and founder of Devpost, the hackathon host for the PropTech Challenge. Devpost is the home for hackathons with an engaged community of developers looking to hone their skills, build new products, and find internships and jobs.