🔒Maine startup launches data platform for multifamily real estate deals

A Portland-based startup called Rely has launched an AI-powered platform that aims to slash due-diligence timelines for multifamily real estate deals by institutional investors. Rely was founded by George Matelich in Kennebunk and David LoBosco in Boulder, Colo., to help users conduct audits in a matter of minutes rather than days or weeks in order to get deals done faster and with greater efficiency. Both have experience building AI-enabled transaction software for the multifamily real estate sector. With customers already on the West Coast and in the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast, Matelich sees huge growth potential for the platform. “Multifamily real estate is worth trillions of dollars,” Matelich told Mainebiz. “We believe the initial market we’re going after is worth just over $1 billion to us, but our roadmap includes total addressable market growth to upwards of $100 billion of market opportunity.” Matelich said that while there have been some early challenges, “you get good at being shameless and getting out there because the process is full of rejection. "David and I are obsessed with solving a real problem for people and ultimately, as more people have started to understand that, they've been really excited to work with us and the momentum we are building has begun to compound," he added. "It feels really great to be over that initial hump."

Financial and strategic backers

Rely is backed by a group of venture and strategic investors with deep experience in real estate and property technology, including San Francisco-based Better Tomorrow Ventures.

JC Bahr-de Stefano, a principal at Better Ventures Tomorrow, noted that commercial real estate transactions are “still incredibly manual and slow,” with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of deals running on outdated processes. “Rely is building solutions to close these deals faster and more efficiently,” he told Mainebiz. “What excites us even more is the longer-term vision — if they nail this for real estate, the same automation could expand into other financial services workflows.” Although half of Rely’s six staff members are based in Maine, Matelich doesn’t see huge market potential for the platform in the Pine Tree state. That's mainly because "there aren't any scaled institutions that currently play in Maine," he explains. Rely is a remote-first employer, and Matelich is also the co-founder of the Nexus Maine "virtual coffee shop." Matelich said it's up to around 1,000 members and 2,000 email subscribers.