$25,000 1st Prize Awarded to Matterport
Bringing something new and valuable to the New Jersey entrepreneurial tech scene, Realogy Holdings Corp. held its second annual FWD’ Innovation Summit on June 17, 2014, showcasing fifteen real estate-related startup technology companies. Highly accomplished tech entrepreneurs, sourcing from Silicon Valley to as far as Germany, brought the best new technology for the real estate industry to this New Jersey competition. All vied for the $25,000 1st place prize money.
Through live demonstrations, the tech startups presented their technology to a distinguished panel of real estate industry judges and an attentive audience of 200 executives and potential investors. Alex Perriello, Realogy Franchise Group President and CEO, presided over the competition and noted that in the one year from the launch of the first competition to the current one, the applicant pool for the competition jumped in quantity and sophistication. Commenting on the Summit’s significant growth, Perriello observed, “The pace of innovation is accelerating. Virtually every one of the companies presenting today did so on a handheld mobile device, which speaks volumes as to where technology is going.” He was particularly pleased that all of the finalists were competing using a live demo of the technology, stating with much enthusiasm, “no slide presentations here today!”
After asking follow-up questions to each of the companies, the judges selected three finalists, from which the audience members voted for the first prize winner through live texting.
The grand prize of the event went to Matterport, a California-based tech company that utilizes “computational photography” to render 3-D visualizations of physical spaces. Presenters were Mike Beebe, Matterport Co-founder and COO, and Bill Brown, Matterport CEO.
“It’s an honor to win the FWD Innovation Summit, but what really struck me was the quality and candor of the feedback that we received, which is so important for our product development,” said Beebe. Although a startup company by name and having only been around for three years, Matterport has already received the support of a number of investment companies such as Lux Capital, Greylock Partners, and Y Combinator, and others.
The summit proved to be a success by all accounts. It not only gave tech entrepreneurs the platform to promote their ventures, and possibly also receive a sizeable award, but more importantly, Realogy can be recognized as an established contributor to the New Jersey entrepreneurial tech ecosystem. Its annual venue has grown in scale to attract top tech entrepreneurs outside of New Jersey and contribute to the growing movement to have New Jersey recognized as an entrepreneur-rich state.
Photo: (left to right) Pariello, Brown, Beebe
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