The Rise of Real Estate Tech

Zillow’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Trulia this summer signals the growing interpenetration of high tech and real estate. Cozy, a start-up that enables users to pay and collect rent, screen tenants, and streamline the rental housing application process online, raised $6.5 million in venture capital funding in the second quarter of 2014. New York-based Floored, which creates interactive 3-D graphics so that potential buyers and renters can explore spaces online, raised $6.4 million in the same period. And Honest Buildings, which bills itself as the “world’s leading connection engine for real estate projects,” raised $12.3 million.

In all, high tech real estate startups attracted $585.6 million in funding in 2013, according to a report from Ash Zandieh, CEO of the consulting company RE:Tech.