REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY,REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Lessen | January 17, 2023
Lessen, the leading tech-enabled outsourced property services platform, recently announced the strategic acquisition of facilities maintenance technology leader SMS Assist.
By combining the complementary strengths of both organizations, Lessen will continue to address real estate's pain points, offering its clients a scalable, tech-enabled enterprise solution for residential and commercial services. As a result, the companies will serve around 250,000 residential and commercial properties nationwide, enabling approximately 2.5 million repair and maintenance orders annually, in addition to expanding their property services.
The transaction is completed with stock and cash, with Lessen raising roughly $500 million in combined new debt and equity. SMS Assist stockholders exchanged a portion of SMS stock for Lessen stock, resulting in a combined company valuation of over $2 billion. Debt and equity investors, including Värde Partners, Monroe Capital, and Koch Real Estate Investments, assisted with this transaction. Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent are among the clients who invested in the deal with Lessen.
Following the conclusion of the transaction, Lessen's Jay McKee will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the newly-merged company. He states, "Lessen recognized early on the opportunity to provide an enterprise-level solution that solved the real estate industry's long-tenured property services pain points." He added, "This deal demonstrates the increasing demand within the underpenetrated, $330 billion addressable North American property services market for a unified, extensible delivery platform that provides transparency, efficiency and data-driven insights for the entire real estate ecosystem including investors, owners, managers and service providers.
(Source – Business Wire)
The new, unified technology platform will allow various service providers—from painters, contractors, and plumbers to electricians and more—to work as one on a national scale, which was previously impossible. The quality of this work will be supervised and inspected by Lessen's in-house project managers. This integrated solution will assist owners in overcoming skilled labor shortages while lessening administrative burden, enhancing project efficiency, and providing real-time project updates.
About Lessen
Lessen is the only end-to-end tech-enabled solution for outsourced real estate property services that delivers consistency, quality, and speed at scale, focusing on single-family and multifamily rental renovations, turns, and maintenance. Through automation and real-time analytics, the firm's technology suite is disrupting and modernizing a project management space that is still reliant on traditional organizational and communication models. The company's professional field project managers provide on-the-ground service, utilizing a network of verified service professionals in over 40 markets across the country, all powered by its proprietary technology platform.
Read More
REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Tavant | March 08, 2023
On March 07, 2023, a Silicon Valley-based custom AI-powered solutions provider, Tavant, announced the launch of Proptech 3.0, its latest phase in Real Estate Technology. This phase of Tavant's Proptech evolution introduces innovation to the real estate industry by providing end-to-end solutions and AI-powered analytics that optimize the ecosystem for all stakeholders. Its extensive and reliable knowledge base allows its partners to unlock the maximum potential of their data while achieving impact and quality at each stage of the data monetization process. Additionally, its multi-sector, multi-generational experience allows scaling start-ups and industry leaders like the nation's third-largest home builder to empower the digital transformation of its adjoining business units to increase flexibility and efficiency, creating a more complete and overall competitive business.
Tavant's revolutionary Touchless Lending® automation solution enabled 9,656 homeownership dreams per day, underwrote more than 80,000 loans, and improved revenue by 250% from the prior year on customer growth of 200%. At the same time, the Proptech sector has been stable over the past year. In addition, Tavant has remained dedicated to its craft and has been awarded the 'HousingWire Real Estate Tech 100 Award' for the third consecutive year.
Tavant develops automated solutions to improve how buyers, sellers, and investors use mobile apps and search engines to find realtors and other critical resources. It automates and optimizes data workflows for enterprises of all sizes to launch revolutionary digital-first solutions and help them become industry leaders. It delivered custom technology solutions to a partner hyper-focused on building affordable housing, automating the end-to-end loan application process, and connecting third-party financial systems while working with actively changing state regulations to create one seamless and effective system for partners, providers, and consumers.
About Tavant
Tavant, a digital products and platforms provider, offers impactful results to North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific customers. Based in Santa Clara, California and established in 2000, the company employs more than 3000 people. Its talent extends beyond the residential real estate market. It is the premier implementation partner for businesses seeking to transform, scale, and stay ahead of the curve, with its 23 years of resilience, recent expansion into Europe and Asia-Pacific, and metamorphic milestones. It has created an AI-powered intelligent lending enterprise by reimagining customer experiences, driving operational efficiencies, and enhancing collaboration.
Read More
REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
MeridianLink | March 03, 2023
On March 02, 2023, MeridianLink®, Inc., one the leading provider of modern software platforms for consumer reporting agencies and financial institutions, announced that it received two HousingWire 2023 Tech100 Mortgage Awards. MeridianLink’s selection as a winner was based on its innovative approach to bring flexibility and improve browser experience, speed and insight to mortgage origination. In addition, a MeridianLink® company, OpenClose™, was identified because its 100% browser-based, omnichannel solutions empower lenders to enhance efficiencies, improve margins, reduce costs, and advance experience quality. These award-winning capabilities provide financial institutions with the robust technology they need to improve the experiences for loan officers and borrowers and close more loans.
The Tech100 program, now in its eleventh year, offers housing professionals a comprehensive list of the most innovative and influential organizations that can be used to identify partners and provide solutions to the daily challenges mortgage lenders face. Every year, the Tech100 program improves progressively more competitively, and the quality of applicants improves as the industry’s demand for technology increases. In its fourth year, the Tech100 program was presented in two groups, including HW Tech100 Real Estate and HW Tech100 Mortgage, to highlight the achievements and innovation of organizations within both sectors.
Chris Maloof, President of Go To Market, MeridianLink®, said, “It is a privilege to be selected once again as a winner of HousingWire’s renowned Tech100 award, and we are thrilled that our industry-leading offerings represent such a large percentage of the true mortgage loan origination systems on this year’s list.” He also said, “As lending progresses toward an increasingly digital future, MeridianLink® and OpenClose™ will continue offering world-class digital experiences built on innovative solutions. We are proud to give our customers choices that connect them with the same technology they need to outshine the competition.”
(Source – Business Wire)
About MeridianLink®
Founded in 1998, MeridianLink® enables digital lending and account opening for financial institutions and provides consumer reporting agencies with data verification solutions. Its cloud-based, scalable platforms support customers to build deeper relationships with consumers via data-driven, personalized experiences throughout the lending life cycle. Its established industry leaders continue to set the industry standard for web-based credit reporting and all sizes of financial institutions. Based in Costa Mesa (California), MeridianLink® has prioritized the democratization of lending for customers, businesses, and communities specializing in loan origination, mortgage systems, loan software and banking software.
Read More