Upfront

Proptech industry veteran, Pierre Calzadilla, and inventor, Mukund Venkatakrishnan, debuted their startup Upfront at Blueprint: The Future of Real Estate. You'll hear in this discussion the need to solve for common commission payment challenges, faced by real estate agents and brokerages across the country. Upfront aims to increase earlier access to commissions, eliminate wait times, reduce fees, and maximize earnings. Upfront has hit the ground running with significant backing. They've raised $2.5M in pre-seed funding, lead by Diagram Ventures and ROC Venture Group, and they're also part of the 2025 Second Century Ventures and NAR REACH Canada program.

Is the traditional commission payment model holding the real estate industry back? For decades, we've accepted that commissions are paid at closing. But in today's fast-paced market, is this still the best approach? Even more so, what is the brokerage doing as a financial partner? I have seen REAL do some cool stuff, and a few others... Consider: - How it affects agent cash flow and stress levels - dispersing funds into savings, 401k, college savings plans - The impact financial tools can have on brokerage recruitment and retention - The potential for increased industry innovation and growth when agent finances are strong What if we reimagined this process? How might it transform your real estate career or brokerage? Share your visionary ideas below. #RethinkRealEstate #IndustryDisruption - come see us at the T3 Sixty Tech Conference in New Orleans and let's dig in to this topic - and the solutions we have built - and are building. We are also in the Pitch Battle! #realestate #proptech #fintech #beUpfront

Grateful to share the next stage of our journey at Upfront, as we announce the close of our pre-seed round! Upfront is building a true, real estate-native, financial service company, in-house, brokerage provided - delivered and supported by us. Adding value to the broker / agent relationship. Many shoe-horn financial services into real estate - we are building bottom up - for the way real estate moves. It's expensive to be a real estate professional. They are expected to pay for everything upfront, with no guarantee of return. From their annual dues, CE, marketing - the list goes on and on.... and then they are expected to wait to get paid for their work. In the US, depending on where you are, it can take 3 weeks to 3 months for real estate professionals to receive their earned fees. The only options for agents to get liquidity are predatory companies, charging upwards of 20% of an agents earned commissions!? At best 9-10% for a credit card. On top of that, these predatory companies operate outside of the valuable, trust-filled broker/agent relationship. We believe this is very broken. If you want to learn more (www.myupfront.com), please reach out. We have a waitlist of brokers launching over the next few months - and this is just the tip of the iceberg. We believe in the future of the real estate professional - come for the ride, to fix the way commissions are paid, and deliver financial tools - made for the real estate space. Thank you to my co-founder Mukund for trusting me as his partner. I could not do this without you my friend! And thank you to our investors, angels, advisors and friends that have been on this journey so far - and to our new partners that want to change the way earned fees move in real estate: Diagram Ventures, ROC Venture Group, Equity Angels, Robin C., Alexander Campbell, Dion Chu, Amy Chorew, Simon Chen, Adriana Landaverde, Nicholas Haley, Katherine Winston, Kenya Burrell-VanWormer, Mike McAra, Lynette Keyowski, Inman https://lnkd.in/egQvqasd

Headed to Blueprint next week? We sure are! Mukund and I will be sharing the vision for Upfront for the first time in front of an audience at Blueprint this year. Thanks to Blueprint: The Future of Real Estate and Equity Angels for getting us this opportunity. We'll be on the innovation stage at 3:05pm on Thursday the 19th, we are also in person and taking meetings while we are there. Find us in the Blueprint App! #blueprint2024 #equityangels

Headed to iOI? Hard to believe that after all these years in real estate & proptech that this will be my first iOi Summit. Really looking forward to finally attending, and thanks to Equity Angels for making it possible! I'm looking forward to seeing the driven brokers and agents that are looking for new solutions, and the fellow entrepreneurs pushing the industry forward - especially my friends in the Pitch Battle: - Diana Zaya with Maverick Systems - Scott Langmack from Kukun ...and many of the other NAR REACH companies in attendance. If you see 2024 as full of opportunity for innovators in real estate, for brokers and tech leaders alike - let's talk, DM's are open. #onwardandupward #iOi #NARREACH

BREAKING NEWS: Upfront, Maverick Systems, The Studio Home, and Billions Join Equity Angels' First Proptech Cohort ➡ Upfront provides innovative financial solutions for agents and brokers ➡ The Studio Home leverages Web3 visualization for curated home furnishings ➡ Maverick Systems optimizes big data analytics for agent acquisition and retention ➡ BILLIONS specializes in streamlining operational solutions for high-performing teams. The founders of these startups include some of the most seasoned and unique tech entrepreneurs in real estate today. One such founder is Diana Zaya of Maverick Systems, whose father was raised in a minimalist “mud hut” in Syria, but with hopes of finding a more fulfilling life. After receiving his degree in engineering, he immigrated to the U.S. to start his family. Raised with this dedication to achievement, Diana has established a performance-based system for recruiting and retaining real estate agents. She is positioned to dramatically improve how the industry optimizes big data analytics to enhance brokerage growth strategies. Upfront Founder Mukund Venkatakrishnan is a recent Harvard graduate who launched his first tech company at 17 and a real estate brokerage by 20. His co-founder Pierre Calzadilla brings extensive real estate expertise, having built and scaled growth teams at Trulia, RealScout and Local Logic. Together, they are leveraging their combined experience to create innovative solutions that financially empower agents and brokers in the real estate industry. The Studio Home Founder Nicole McGuire’s passion for modernizing the homebuilding industry stems from her experience working with her family’s 80-year-old construction company. She partners with homebuilders to offer curated furniture collections seamlessly integrating with their home designs. Leveraging Web3, she creates aspirational living experiences that buyers can easily envision, personalize and purchase with just a few mouse clicks. Andrew Becker founded The MacDonald/Becker Real Estate Team over a decade ago, and as a rapidly growing broker, experienced problems integrating numerous technology platforms. Overwhelmed by the proliferation of lead generation, transaction and CRM solutions, he teamed up with seasoned enterprise technology leader and co-founder Amber Milks to launch BILLIONS, a real estate operations platform focused on high-performing real estate teams that brings the entire customer journey together to maximize productivity and margin. “With such a diverse and seasoned group of founders, we’re all learning so much from one another,” remarked Equity Angels Founder Kenya Burrell-VanWormer. “The future of a more diverse proptech ecosystem is looking very bright,” added Co-Founder, Katherine Winston. #proptech #news #accelerator #leadingwithequity Top row from left: Mukund Venkatakrishnan, Pierre Calzadilla, Diana Zaya Bottom row from left: Nicole McGuire, Amber Milks, Andrew Becker