Tech Bytes: News from RealScout + Anywhere, Chime, Scout, more 

Editor's note: Technology is a driving force in real estate. From startups to established players, tech companies are constantly innovating, growing and forging partnerships. Here we highlight some of the latest news about the companies that help power the industry. 

Anywhere inks deal with Innovation Summit winner RealScout

Anywhere Real Estate announced it has signed a new enterprise agreement with automated contact nurture platform RealScout, winner of Anywhere's FWD Innovation Summit.

Agents from any of the company's brands, including Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and Sotheby's International Realty, can now invite their leads and contacts to the RealScout platform. RealScout will provide listing alerts, market activity alerts and home valuation reports to those contacts.

"Our collaboration with RealScout will help Anywhere continue delivering comprehensive and valuable solutions to affiliated agents and consumers," said Tony Kueh, Anywhere's chief product officer. "The RealScout platform works seamlessly with existing tools and data sources our affiliated agents use today, and the platform is proven to help agents reach and expand their sphere of influence and get more people into the homes they want with less effort."

Andrew Flachner, president and co-founder of RealScout, said the collaboration shows Anywhere's commitment to providing its agents with useful tech. "Anywhere is truly invested in harnessing the power of technology to achieve exceptional results, bringing together consumers, real estate professionals and developers. That's why we're thrilled to integrate the RealScout platform with the Anywhere ecosystem."

Chime rebrands, announces app upgrades

Chime Technologies, the AI-powered marketing and lead generation platform, is now known as Lofty. Along with the rebrand, the company has enhanced its mobile app, harnessing AI to handle some of the "non-optimized, repetitive tasks" that take up agents' time, said Lofty CEO Joe Chen in a video discussing the rebrand.

The updated app includes: 

• Chat Groups, which can be used for both team collaboration and client communications

• Showing Management, which helps agents communicate and coordinate showings and drive engagement with their listings

• Listing Management, which allows agents to search, manage and promote listings from their mobile device

"As the real estate industry continues to change rapidly, we have expanded our vision to best meet the evolving needs of our customers, helping them navigate and prosper in a world that will be driven by AI," said Chen. 

"We want our brand to inspire customers to believe in their future success and set 'lofty' goals for their business. Our clients can continue to expect the same high level of product innovation and commitment to addressing their business needs through the practical application of AI technology," Chen added.

Scout comes out on top at T3 Tech Summit Pitch Battle

Scout, an AI-powered communication platform, was crowned the winner of the 2023 T3 Tech Summit Pitch Battle, taking home the $50,000 prize.

"This year's pitch battle was an amazing showcase of some of the hottest and newest technology in residential real estate," T3 Sixty Executive Vice President of Technology Travis Saxton said. "Congratulations to Scout on their impressive win. We have been bullish on this company for some time now and the validation of the industry choosing them was refreshing."

The pitch battle was part of the second annual Tech Summit sponsored by residential real estate management consulting and research firm T3 Sixty. (Note: T3 Sixty and Real Estate News share a founder, Stefan Swanepoel.)

In the first round of the pitch battle, companies with similar offerings went head-to-head before a panel of their peers and the audience.

The four category winners then pitched to a broader industry audience and answered questions from judges. 

The four finalists in each category were:

• Demand generation: Scout

• Workflow and Automations: Level Up, a digital coach

• Lead nurture and conversion: LocalizeOS, an AI-driven platform.

• Client experience and engagement: Rayse, a connectivity platform for managing real estate communication and productivity.

Saskatchewan Realtors adds AI photo tagging tools 

The Saskatchewan Realtors Association has added Restb.ai's generative AI to its listing platform.

"The magic of AI isn't just in its potential but in its tangible impact to real estate in Canada," said Chris Guérette, Saskatchewan Realtors CEO. "We aren't just peering into the future, we're actively molding it with dedication and excellence."

The new AI tools are integrated into Matrix, the CoreLogic-powered MLS platform used by the association. 

The Restb.ai technology scans photos and automatically identifies a home's important features, such as architectural style and attributes like stainless steel appliances, stone countertops, outdoor kitchens and more. The association says in addition to saving agents time, it will also improve the consumer search experience. 

"Saskatchewan's tech sector is one of the fastest growing in Canada. We're proud the real estate sector can contribute to this economic force in our province," said Guérette. "We're thrilled to be one of the first Associations in Canada to bring generative AI by Restb.ai into our MLS system, at no additional cost to our members."

Recruiting Insight, Talent Scout unite

Recruiting Insight and Talent Scout announced they have teamed up.

Agent recruitment firm Recruiting Insight will now offer Talent Scout's experienced agent  appointment-setting product. Talent Scout rounds out the company's existing brokerage and agent services: ThirdPool, a tool for recruiting new agents, and CoRecruit, a coaching tool for experienced agents.

"Talent Scout makes the calls you don't want to make and does it consistently on your behalf," said Mark Johnson, managing partner at Recruiting Insight. "This solution — now part of our Recruiting Insight brand — is designed to achieve a remarkable industry-leading appointment show rate with experienced agents."  

Rhonda Deloge and Adam Lerman will join the company as part of the Talent Scout team.

"We are pleased to have the caliber of talent like Rhonda and Adam join forces with us as we work together to help our clients make recruiting and talent attraction a signature strength," said Ben Hess, managing partner at Recruiting Insight.