Real estate tech platform myAbode has acquired FirstList, a listing tool for real estate agents, for an undisclosed amount and is adding the Toronto firm’s co-founders to its executive team.
FirstList provides a digital platform for exclusive home listings that are not or haven’t yet been shared on Multiple Listing Service (MLS). MyAbode is acquiring its assets. A spokesperson for the company told BetaKit on Wednesday that myAbode is also bringing on FirstList CEO Derek Hooper, and Andrew Paliga, as well as its team of fewer than 10 employees.
FirstList provides a digital platform for exclusive home listings that haven’t been shared on public markets.
MyAbode is a tech brand of the larger Toronto-based real estate firm RealServus, which is backed by venture and growth equity firm Round13 Capital. Bronwyn Smith, who served as e-commerce giant Shopify’s former Canadian head of merchant experience and the former COO at Toronto AI scaleup Ada, was appointed the CEO of RealServus in September.
In a press release, Smith said bringing on Hooper and Paliga will give myAbode a “powerful combination” of technology and real estate expertise. “By integrating FirstList’s technology and talent, we’ll now be able to give agents unprecedented access to exclusive private listings and advanced marketing tools,” she added.
According to the myAbode website, more than 7,000 real estate agents across various Ontario brokerages use the platform.
RELATED: Keypr incorporates Nesto mortgage services into platform for homebuyers
Founded by Hooper and Paliga in 2023, FirstList developed a digital platform for brokerages to set up “coming soon” listings not yet on the public market. The company said this gave real estate agents and brokers more control over listings and more information to better connect clients with ideal homes.
Paliga, who served as a product lead at Shopify for several years, will join myAbode as its vice-president of product. In a statement, he said that artificial intelligence (AI) will “completely transform how real estate agents interact with their back office” as myAbode looks to automate administrative tasks.
The acquisition comes as traditional real estate brokerages launch their own tech-enabled platforms to meet homebuyers’ appetites for digital tools. In September, Toronto-based proptech platform Keypr, which is the tech platform for realtor Konfidis, added mortgage capabilities from Montréal’s Nesto. RE/MAX and Royal LePage have both released digital platforms for their brokers to manage clients and listings.
Raising venture dollars has been tough for proptech companies in recent years. Proptech firms raised about $300 million in venture capital (VC) funding last year, a more than 60-percent drop from the year before, according to the non-profit industry group Proptech Collective. Nearly one-third of proptech companies operating in Canada are at the seed stage or earlier.
Disclosure: BetaKit majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.
Feature image courtesy Bruno Assis via Unsplash.