Proptech Startup Markerr Closes $6.6M Series B Round
Analytics platform for real estate owners and investors plans to invest more in its data products
By Philip Russo March 28, 2023 9:00 am
reprints
Real estate analytics startup Markerr announced Tuesday that it has closed a $6.6 million Series B round to expand its machine-learning product services for owners and investors.
RET Ventures led the round, with a strategic investment from Pretium, a specialized investment firm with more than $50 billion in assets under management and a client of Markerr.
A fully remote proptech startup founded in the first quarter of 2021, Markerr plans to invest the new funding in its suite of data analytics offerings, said Brian Lichtenberger, the CEO and founder at Markerr. The company closed a $5 million Series A round in April 2021, shortly after starting business. It credited this new Series B round to strong demand from owners and investors craving sophisticated insight into properties and markets.
“We’re going to continue to invest in building out new product sets, and expanding existing ones, all of which are driven by data and data science,” said Lichtenberger, adding that Markerr will also invest in its marketing operations. “We’re still a new company, so there’s a lot of other businesses that haven’t heard of Markerr just yet, but we’re definitely getting the word out.”
Lichtenberger said a mutual association with RET connected his firm with Pretium.
“Pretium has been a client for about 18 months or so,” said Lichtenberger. “We got in touch with them through our partnership with RET, which has all the big LPs that are the largest owners and operators in multifamily and single-family, and Pretium is one of those.”
Pretium liked Markerr’s work for them, expanding the relationship multiple times over the last 18 months, said Lichtenberger.
“We were out talking with investors and Pretium was doing more on the venture front, so it just seemed like a natural fit,” he said. “We had multiple opportunities to do several deals that we were working on in parallel, but the deal with RET and Pretium was our favorite from the get-go, and we’re really excited that we were able to get it done.”
Executives at Pretium and RET also heralded the close.
“We are a long-tenured Markerr client, and the team’s scalable and flexible data and analytics platform supports our ability to make well-informed investment decisions swiftly and with a high degree of confidence,” said Lauren Cipicchio, senior managing director and head of central quantitative strategies at Pretium.
“When we first invested in Markerr two years ago, we recognized its potential to deliver unique data intelligence to real estate investors, and in the ensuing two years, the company’s product suite and client base have grown dramatically,” said Christopher Yip, partner at RET. “In today’s tumultuous market, real estate professionals are looking for any possible competitive advantage, and it is telling that many of our strategic investors — some of the country’s largest multifamily and SFR owners — have adopted Markerr to improve their investment decisions.”
The latest funding follows what Markerr describes as rapid growth during 2022, with annualized recurring revenue (ARR) growing 95 percent year over year, and net revenue retention surpassing 140 percent.
Among the company’s products are RealRent, a rent forecast tool that uses machine learning and data networks to deliver rent estimates; RealRank, an application that allows acquisition and asset management teams to quickly access Markerr’s data offerings; and Population Nowcast, a ZIP code-level forecast of population and migration trends. Markerr also provides new demand and supply indicators covering crime and new construction, plus expanded property and listings data.
Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.
###
