Three Canadian startups have been chosen to participate in Colliers Proptech Accelerator‘s 2019 class, a three-month program powered by global accelerator, Techstars. All three Canadian startups are based in Toronto.
“We are beginning to explore longer-term opportunities and more advanced solutions that could disrupt the industry.”
– Jay Hennick, Colliers’ CEO
Colliers is a Canadian-based global commercial real estate services organization with more than $26 billion of assets under management. For this year’s accelerator, it received hundreds of applications from over 50 countries, ultimately choosing 10 for its cohort. The startups are tackling a wide range of solutions, including quant valuation and investing, crowdfunding, asset fractionalization, machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, as well as augmented and virtual reality. In all, six countries are represented in the class: Canada, the United States, Spain, Singapore, Finland, and Australia.
“We set out on a mission to look for early-stage technologies across the real estate value chain that deliver smarter, more personalized services to our clients and people,” said Jay Hennick, Colliers’ global chairman and CEO. “Building on the successes of last year’s inaugural class, in 2019, we are beginning to explore longer-term opportunities and more advanced solutions that could disrupt the industry, which is helping us advise our clients on what is noise and what is real.”
One of the Canadian companies accepted into Colliers Proptech Accelerator is blockchain investing company BRED Token. BRED utilizes blockchain technology and tokenization to apply it to public offerings. Utilizing tokenization expands the offering space while aiming to create a more efficient real estate investment process.
Another Canadian startup participating in this year’s class is Fast Office, which takes PDF flyers and generates 3D layouts, with a total cost of occupancy, in minutes. FastOffice aims to eliminate the work and time that general contractors need to do in order to create a construction budget. Its “takeoff” tool also automatically creates an accurate scope of work.
Finneo, a FinTech and SaaS startup, is the third Canadian company accepted into Colliers’ accelerator. Its software offers clients a front-to-back solution for real estate portfolio debt management and reporting, debt placement, and third-party consultant solicitation. Its solution is white-label and fully customizable.
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First launched last year, the three-month accelerator program is hosted in Toronto. It is aimed to help it startups refine business plans, gain global real estate perspective through the eyes of over 120 mentors, and explore pilots and partnerships with Colliers’ network. The program ends in a demo day, featuring presentations to clients, real estate industry leaders, and technology investors.
“What we have with Techstars is a special partnership. Startups get exposure to Techstars’ global expertise in tech innovation and building accelerators combined with Colliers’ enterprising culture, real estate expertise, and global network,” said Zach Michaud, Colliers’ vice president of strategic investments. “It is the only global program in the industry which combines a wide lens with a proprietary process that sharpens our focus as we identify targeted innovation,”.
For this year’s demo day, the accelerator will be sponsoring the Buildings Connect feature of The Buildings Show, taking place December 4 to 6, and will also be the technology partner of The Real Estate Forum, from December 4 to 5. Colliers said this will allow it to offer a digital innovation lens to the real estate conversation.
Colliers also announced that it has partnered with four companies from the 2018 class of the proptech accelerator, including internationally-based Booqed, Upsuite, and Basking, as well as Toronto-based Lane. In May, Lane, which offers a communication platform for landlords and tenants, raised a $2.5 million seed round, co-led by Colliers Proptech Accelerator powered by Techstars, Alate Partners, and Panache Ventures.
“We have gained tremendous energy and insight from our class participants and the program and look forward to working with the incoming class,” said Michaud, regarding Colliers’ decision to partner with the four 2018 cohort startups.
Image courtesy Techstars via YouTube
