GEM Crystal

Weekly Radar #367: $7 Billion In Value, The Opendoor Saga Continues, Legal Mumbo Jumbo, Proptech Index Up 1.57%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Figure’s $7B IPO and rising share price is seen as a rare liquidity win for proptech investors and a validation of blockchain’s role in real estate finance. * Opendoor’s leadership shakeup, AI-driven reset, and founder return are viewed skeptically as PR spin

Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #366: Don't Bury Your Startup Risks Lead, The Goat Of Company Updates, Proptech Index Up 1.87%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Atticus LeBlanc’s consistent weekly updates on Padsplit demonstrate growth, deep operational knowledge, and transparent communication, making him a model for founders seeking to attract investors. * F4 Fund’s David Kaye argues that the best founders win bigger checks by candidly sharing risks and

Attention is the Bottleneck that Breaks AI (Transmission #331)

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Weekly Transmission

Attention is the Bottleneck that Breaks AI (Transmission #331)

Every company’s marketing plan is predictable these days, something to the tune of Company X is going to use AI to... * Send more personalized messages. * Email more prospective home buyers. * Text more builders. * Send more LinkedIn mails. * Answer more customer questions. * Send more postcards. You get the point. All

Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #365: How To Be Hunted By VCs, Turning The Paper Napkin Into A 747... Enter Advisory Circles, Proptech Index Down 2.91%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * As a startup, how do you shift from hunter to the hunted when it comes to fundraising? * Heather Harmon, who advises numerous real estate, mortgage, and construction tech startups, launched Peer Advisory Circles as group coaching program for early-stage proptech founders to avoid costly

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #364: Violating Customer Trust, Equity To Bitcoin, Private Funding Report - Q2 2025, Proptech Index Up 4.95%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Proptech Angel Group released high level Q2’25 stats with Series B rounds leading in dollars and Seed rounds leading in volume, while construction and residential dominated funding activity and hospitality/retail/STR sectors saw steep investor pullback. * Buildium faces backlash for selling renters

Hotwiring My Brain: How AI Took Me From No Code to a Native App (Transmission #330 Part II)

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Hotwiring My Brain: How AI Took Me From No Code to a Native App (Transmission #330 Part II)

WRITTEN BY: JERED DENNIS [Adapted from From Zero Code to Swipe Home: How AI Rewired My Brain] Before May 5, 2025, I knew my computer basics—processors, storage, and screens—but I couldn’t tell you how they talked to each other. Writing code? Architecting a full-blown application? These were

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Proptech Earnings Radar

Proptech Earnings Radar Pt. 2 - Q2 2025 (Series V, Part IX)

Q2 results are in for many of proptech’s public companies. Below are the earnings summaries and links to the full articles for each of the the ten companies we deem as the most important players in the broader category. Beyond that is the wrap-up that includes a table covering

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #363: Opendoor Upheaval, Drone Infrastructure FTW, Proptech Index Up 1.75%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Hear from past participants on why you should walk the Camino with GEM in 2026. * Opendoor's CEO, Carrie Wheeler, exited with a paid advisory role amongst Opendoor’s strategy shift toward a standard lead-generation portal. * A new built world startup, Zipline, is

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Proptech Earnings Radar

Proptech Earnings Radar Pt. 1 - Q2 2025 (Series V, Part IX)

Q2 results are in for many of proptech’s public companies. Below is Part 1 for Q2 2025, where we share the earnings summaries for the ten companies we deem as the most important players in the broader category. Coming next week, Part 2 will be the wrap-up that includes

AI Tools Takes (Transmission #330 Part I)

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AI Tools Takes (Transmission #330 Part I)

WRITTEN BY: SETH SIEGLER As a follow up to the recent State of AI group discussion, here’s my promised follow-up: a list of the AI tools myself and the eXp team have been using recently, and a quick take on what the pros and cons are (from my experience)

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #362: Pitching The Sharks, Proptech Index Down 1.67%, Piloting Mass Timber In Data Centers, Spacing Boxabl

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * The feedback from Alex Montalenti’s pitch to Robert Herjavec and Kevin Harrington at the Domination Conference underscores that startups fail more from lack of focus than capital. * Meta is using mass timber in data centers with key partners to cut embodied carbon by

The Skeleton Keys to Alternative Investments (Transmission #328)

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Weekly Transmission

The Skeleton Keys to Alternative Investments (Transmission #328)

The prospect of democratizing access to real estate investments—once the exclusive domain of wealthy individuals, accredited investors, and family offices—has fueled a wave of fractional investment platforms. But challenges abound. Reaching everyday investors requires expensive marketing, and building trust remains a major challenge to converting interest into actual

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #361: Legalities For The Loss, Proptech Index Down 2.69%, Pricing Psychology

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * CoStar sued Zillow and others over photo use, continuing a pattern of lawsuits seen as unproductive and anti-innovation. * DocSend’s journey to product-market fit involved embracing counterintuitive pricing strategies and product-led growth, lessons now central to GEM Aventurine’s accelerator philosophy. * The GEM Proptech

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #360: Proptech Index Up 3.63% + Proptech Getaway

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #359: The Seasonal Product Release, Tedx Talks On Real Estate Wealth Creation, Proptech Index Up 2.38%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Frank Rohde and Michael Barnes use TEDx talks to advocate for tackling barriers to homeownership and closing the wealth equity gap through innovative housing solutions. * Zillow’s summer product release reflects a strategic shift toward major, Airbnb-style product announcements to stand out in a

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #358: State of AI event, laughing at latest portal wars, company tracking with AI, slinking referrals

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Newspaper publisher Gannett formed a multi-year agreement with AddressUSA to power an online real estate portal across the USA TODAY Network including USA TODAY and over 200 local publications nationwide. Really? * A new Referral Disclosure form from Northwest MLS is a move toward "

Weekly Transmission

Wellness: A New Paradigm for How We Build (Transmission #326)

WRITTEN BY: HEATHER HARMON The built environment is undergoing a profound transformation. No longer is real estate simply about shelter or square footage; today, a growing movement recognizes that buildings play a critical role in human health, productivity, and well-being. This shift is embodied in the rise of wellness real

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #357: Compass Goes Legal (again), Opendoor pivots to lead gen, metaprop pitches, Proptech Index Up 2.19%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Compass is up to its not fun legal antics once again, suing Zillow "over new rules that ban privately marketed listings from the platform. * Opendoor launched a Key Connections program to connects partner real estate agents with high-intent sellers...the agent disruptor graveyard

Weekly Transmission

The Fantasied Beginnings of a Secret Real Estate Tech Society (Transmission #324)

[Editor’s note: This Camino-inspired transmission blends both humans and machines (ChatGPT) to imagine how GEM might have begun had this “secret real estate tech society” (as some call it) been hatched hundreds of years ago, rather than in 2017. This is fiction.] Audio file: Want to listen to this,

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #356: Flowing In An Interview, Proptech Index Down 1.08%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Flow faces skepticism for its vague community vision, but may thrive abroad where tenant screening is less restricted. * The GEM Proptech Index decreased 1.08% from the previous week. As always, links surrounded by the ❇️ emoji indicate exclusive GEM Diamond content. If you would

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #355: Building In An AI World, Flying Motorbike Debuts, Proptech Index Down 0.49%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Stackpoint Ventures argues AI should enhance workflows across roles. * Volonaut revealed a jet-powered Airbike, pushing personal air mobility toward a high-speed, lightweight future. * The GEM Proptech Index decreased 0.49% from the previous week. As always, links surrounded by the ❇️ emoji indicate exclusive GEM

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #354: 52,000 Residences Strong, At the Buyer Demand Table, Regulation For Landlords = Adoption For Rental Tech, Proptech Index Increased 4.54%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Compass’ Buyer Demand Tool is neither novel nor innovative compared to longstanding tools from the likes of RealScout and Percy. * New landlord regulations in California are accelerating adoption of compliance and screening tech like Rely, RentSpree, Rental Beast, and Verifast. * Alfred’s merger with

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Weekly Radar

Weekly Radar #353: Wandering to $50M, Challenges Abound in Fractions, New Jersey's Blockchain Bet, Proptech Index Up 0.68%

In this Weekly Radar, we cover: * Success as a startup founder boils down to consistently embracing the unglamorous, persistent work of sales, regardless of company stage. * Wander's shift to an asset-light short-term rental model is smart, but building a branded rental brand faces steep, steep executional challenges. * Fractional

All-in-One, or All-for-What? (Transmission #323)

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Weekly Transmission

All-in-One, or All-for-What? (Transmission #323)

In the real estate portal arms race, everyone’s chasing the same prize: owning the entire consumer journey. From a consumer’s first dream of home ownership to eventually financing, closing, and even servicing it, portals want to own the entire transaction. Zillow’s bundled ecosystem of listings aims to

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Weekly Radar