The “PropTech” category came into the fore about a decade ago when the vast world of Real Estate (Property) realized that the changes in digital technologies could offer opportunities to the world’s largest asset class. As with the popular category “FinTech,” PropTech has grown dramatically, though not all companies that claim to be in this space are equally capable technically. It is essential to understand how technology is being implemented to modernize traditionally antiquated business models.
New PropTech companies have largely been focused on creating Direct-To-Customer experiences with digital workflows that attempt to replace the need for human interaction. Their ideal state is to create a low-cost way to acquire a customer, originate an asset and then sell the asset to an institutional investor. It’s a simple formula that you can, ideally, rinse and repeat.
The real estate industry however, has been built on the back of relationships and trust: Witness the 2 million real estate agents, 350,000 mortgage loan officers,and 400,000 homebuilders, who make their living through leveraging and nourishing relationships. The real magic happens when you can use technology to supercharge these relationships to create a more amazing experience for the customer.
Enter a new breed of real estate company, powered by common-sense practices, technology, and a diversity of audiences. Legacy Group Capital (Legacy) has an 18-year track record of profitable growth having built a platform that includes both Business Purpose and Consumer Lending coupled with Real Estate Development and Builder-Services. These service lines sit alongside a successful family of real estate investment funds – with 1,000+ investors and $500M+ available capital.
Now, Legacy is growing into new markets and adding new business lines as it brings the power of scale and technology to its business. Legacy is anything but the standard in real estate development, financing, and investment; the company has multiple revenue sources built on multiple streams of value across audiences. In a traditionally fragmented market, Legacy’s business model benefits from an integrated platform connecting all its business lines and revenue models. In 2023, Legacy evaluated over $5 billion in active real estate deals and expects this number to triple in 2025 with its expansion into new markets and technologies. This indicates the growth of the sector and of Legacy’s increasing footprint in the space.
Powered by a modern day cloud based architecture and vertically focused AI, Legacy’s platform will at once connect multiple stakeholders in a marketplace and provide unique analytics to support asset origination and performance. Leveraging integrations to support the flow of information and reporting, the Legacy platform will automate labor-intensive areas of the process and will help drive down the cost of capital in secondary markets and ultimately provide the best value to the customer.
Housing is too important a category to leave to the technology averse. While the house is the single largest asset for most families and the largest source of generational wealth transfer, homeownership has stagnated. Many large US cities have recorded a yawning supply-demand gap while prices have skyrocketed. The power of technology must be harnessed to create one conversation between Builders, Homebuyers, Agents, Loan Officers, and Investors so that America’s housing needs can be met. At Legacy we are innovating and investing to make that happen.
 |
Ed Messman is the Chief Investment Officer of Legacy Group Capital and has over two decades of executive leadership experience with Venture Capital and Private Equity-sponsored technology companies. As CIO, Ed provides leadership for all aspects of the company’s investment and capital markets activities. |
 |
Romi Mahajan has been in the technology industry for 25 years – as a Director at Microsoft and Chief Marketing Officer of five award-winning companies. He is also President and Founder of KKM Group, a boutique consulting firm focused on technology marketing and AI. |
