With the Highroad.show rapidly approaching, we wanted to share a little “behind the scenes”, together with some information about our directives in choosing each company in our last cohort. Those of you who have attended Highroad’s previous events, probably know why we don’t simply call it a ”demo day”.
We planned another great event of business opportunities, mixed with fun, the Highroad way. A short time later our Chinese partners started telling us that they might not be able to attend. Unfortunately, as we all know, this situation only worsened.
While we strongly hope this current situation and its end is near, and will do our best to have the best possible event, it won’t be the same. Just like the world will not be the same as it was before COVID-19.
We decided, along with our partners, to tackle some of the biggest pains in the prop-tech vertical, as we understand the readiness of the market when major real estate giants like JLL and British Land started referring themselves as “tech companies” alongside “property businesses”.
When we cleared up all the noise in the sector and started to touch base with the local and global scene and the different shareholders, we had a clear understanding that, if we want to have a significant impact on the vertical, we need to focus on technologies that cover those four main areas in the industry:
- Tech solution who helps stakeholders to assess, invest and transact in real estate
- Tech that helps design spaces that are fit for the end user
- Tech that helps to build those spaces more efficiently
- Tech that helps those spaces to be a live and build a community that people would want to be a part of
We wanted to choose the right start-ups that will not compete with each other on the one hand, as well as be able to reconcile with one another on the other hand.
From that point, it was quite easy. After we have investigated the market with our colleagues and kept our minds open to find the very best start-ups, and on our mission to cover those main areas in the prop-tech industry, we have selected 3 great Israeli companies, and also one American company (but with Israeli founders).
Within a few months and we feel that we have chosen the very best of the early-stage prop-tech start-ups according to the above.
- A company who wishes to change the old way of detection and building quality assurance (Currently is still performed manually by contractors and superintendents and highly-paid professionals). that perform tedious and repetitive checkups. This company solves these issues through a unique, highly scalable and cost-effective technological approach that constrains the actual number of inspected items that will decrease major rework costs.
- A company disrupting the rental search market with the world’s first AI-powered assistant that reduces the effort from weeks to hours, making it easier than ever to find and rent the ideal home. Using machine learning, machine vision and NLP, their unique solution is able to focus on tenant preferences matching it to existing and future rental inventory better and much more efficiently than a human agent could.
- A next-gen commercial space operating system using the latest sensing, IoT, and wellness monitoring technologies, setting new standards to the ways that spaces understand people and act.
- A platform that enables community managers to transform their online communities into thriving ecosystems in the physical world. By providing the community manager and members the ability to create and efficiently manage social, professional and economic co-experiences. This company’s platform enables community managers to transform their online communities into thriving ecosystems in the physical world. By providing the community manager and members the ability to create and efficiently manage social, professional and economic co-experiences.
All 4 made with us a great journey, we saw how they kept working like ninjas, even during the difficult times of the pandemic, and we will help them to grow and collaborate with each other as we believe and love them all.
In the Highroad.show, those companies will present their products, progress, achievements and vision. We will also conduct one-on-ones with our start-ups, both those as well as our other portfolio companies.
We invite you to request an invitation for the Highroad.show at highroad.show.
