Setpoint is the latest project from Ben Rubenstein, former CEO of Opcity and Realtor.com.
The new company that bills itself as “real estate bar,” which aims to provide both technology and cash to other start-ups in, say, the energy buying sector — came out of stealth on Tuesday.
The company, dubbed Setpoint, is the latest venture from Ben Rubenstein, a serial entrepreneur who previously founded lead audit firm Opcity and who served as Director of Revenue at Realtor.com.
Setpoint aims to “enable proptech companies to offer their customers friction-free housing buying and selling options including condition-free cash offers,” according to the statement. What this specifically means is that the company provides a software platform that handles document collection and verification, and automates parts of the closing process, among other things.
In addition, Setpoint provides funding to capital-intensive companies, such as Power Buyers, so that they can continue to close transactions. In a statement, it said the company had secured a total of $615 million of earmarked capital that it could provide to other companies.
Setpoint was originally launched last year but remained in stealth mode as of Tuesday. According to the statement, companies including Homeward, Flyhomes, Reali and Houwzer are all already using the Setpoint platform, and the company expects to help facilitate 25,000 transactions this year.
Ben Rubinstein
Rubinstein serves as president and co-founder of Setpoint. He previously co-founded digital marketing company Yodle in 2005, then moved on to found Opcity in 2015. Opcity was later acquired by Realtor.com, and Rubinstein ended up serving as the revenue manager for News Corp-owned portal News Corp.
In a conversation with Inman, Rubinstein explained that since Power Buying real estate startups, among other areas, need technology to improve their efficiency, as well as more capital to fund their deals. Setpoint wants to help such companies grow.
“It’s the Wild West out there now,” Rubinstein said. “We want to help them unite.”
With Setpoint, Rubinstein added, other companies can secure the operating capital they need more quickly and efficiently than if they had to go to more traditional sources of credit.
Stuart Wall
The Setpoint team also includes Stuart Wall, who serves as co-founder and CEO. Describing Setpoint as a “real estate bar,” Wall described the company as a widely used transaction management startup that supports other companies’ websites and e-commerce.
“We are the layer of infrastructure that others can build on,” Wall added.
While Power Buyers — or companies that provide services, such as cash support to buyers — is one of the most obvious implementations of the Setpoint platform, the company can also work with startups focused on other models, such as fractional ownership.
“Setpoint focuses exclusively on modern real estate transactions such as bridge financing, fractional ownership and real estate equity platforms,” Wall added in the statement. “We’ve developed our tools from the ground up for proptech companies interested in providing more innovative services.”
Email Jim Dalrymple II