DURHAM — In May, investors poured $5 million into Durham-based First.io in a Series A funding round. Now the company — cofounded by Jess Martin and Mike Schneider in Durham in 2016 — has announced that it has inked deals with what it calls “tech-forward” real estate brokerages across the United States.
@properties co-founders Thad Wong and Mike Golden were among the investors that led the First.io $5 million Series A, and helped the company deploy its artificial intelligence platform to help real estate agents connect with prospective home sellers to @properties in a nationwide rollout.
“Our recent rollout with First yielded significant results,” said Thad Wong, co-founder and chief executive officer at @properties. “The First data accurately predicted over 1,800 homes that listed during the pilot period, added more than 3,000 properties associated with each of our pilot brokers contacts, and facilitated over 500 conversations that would not have happened without them. This is great business.”
A screenshot of First’s AI-powered brokerage support platform.
Armed with proof points, testimonials, and the results of that pilot project, the company announced today deals with Ansley in Atlanta, C21 Advantage Gold in Philadephia, Climb Real Estate in San Francisco, PLG Estates in Los Angeles, West+Main in Denver, and other brokerages in some of the hottest real estate markets across the country.
“When agents focus their time and energy on the people our data suggests, we see them winning more business,” said Mike Schneider, cofounder and CEO of First.io in a statement.
How it works
First delivers data-driven recommendations to agents and brokers about who in their sphere of influence is most likely to sell based on hundreds of data points like income and spending behavior, market trends, property information, and major life events like getting married, having a child, or graduating from an undergraduate or graduate program.
First is able to predict behavior on more than 214 million people, said the company in a statement, and makes their data available and accessible to agents through a mobile interface designed for agents to use while they’re in the field.
According to the company, agents are able to see activity, contact prospects and existing clients, and schedule regular follow-up appointments to continue conversations. Agents are able to focus on the people who are most likely to be making changes, said the company, which means that they’re most likely to need a real estate agent.
“What excites me about working with First is the technology really represents what I believe to be the future of relationship management in real estate,” said Mark Choey, a cofounder of Climb Real Estate in San Francisco. “This is just the start of what I believe will herald a whole new approach and a renaissance in customer intelligence that could revolutionize how we do CRM today.”
The company is hiring sales account executives and sales development representatives.
