Upfront, Maverick Systems, The Studio Home, and Billions Join Equity Angels' First Proptech Cohort

New accelerator focuses on supporting real estate technology startups with diverse leadership

BELLEVUE, Wash., May 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Equity Angels, a social impact organization dedicated to fostering fair access to innovation and opportunity, names the 2024 cohort for its first-ever accelerator program. 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, and 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.

"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. "We're honored to work with such inspiring founders and look forward to helping grow their businesses through our accelerator program."

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.

"We're impressed by the caliber of visionaries that have applied for our first-year programs. In addition to our accelerator, we've accepted a few founders into our fractional executive program to provide advisory work for startups building new solutions to very big problems in the industry, including the housing affordability crisis," added Equity Angels Founder, Katherine Winston. "The future of a more diverse proptech ecosystem is looking very bright."

SOURCE Equity Angels