Vector Group Ltd., the parent company of Douglas Elliman, has launched New Valley Ventures, an investment vehicle seeking opportunities in next-generation technologies in the property technology (proptech) space. Douglas Elliman is the sixth-largest largest residential real estate brokerage firm in the United States.
“We are incredibly excited to introduce New Valley Ventures to the proptech industry,” said Richard J. Lampen, executive vice president and COO of Vector Group. “We look forward to putting our capital and deep industry knowledge to work to bring exciting and innovative tech-driven solutions to our colleagues at Douglas Elliman as well as the greater real estate community.”
In connection with the launch, Vector Group announced New Valley Ventures has acquired an ownership stake in Rechat, a lead-to-close, fully-mobile technology dashboard for real estate agents. Rechat includes a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system that helps real estate professionals organize their client rosters, manage communications and prioritize responses, syncing with Google Mail and Outlook. It also allows for marketing automation for social media, email blasts and digital and printed collateral materials. Other features include a modern open-house experience and real-time MLS search and alerts feature. Rechat will be strategically rolled out to all Douglas Elliman agents during the first half of 2021.
“We are grateful for our new partnership with New Valley Ventures and Douglas Elliman and their confidence in our transformational product,” said Shayan Hamidi, founder and CEO of Rechat. “I look forward to welcoming them to the Rechat family.”
New Valley Ventures has also invested in Camber Creek, a venture capital firm whose portfolio includes startups such as Notarize, Curbio, Flex and Darwin Homes and MetaProp.
