As commercial real estate braces for a wave of loan maturities, one startup sees opportunity in helping the industry navigate what many expect to be turbulent years ahead. Capitalize, a technology firm that connects brokers and lenders, is focusing its early business model on refinancing, betting that its niche approach will meet a growing market need.
The company primarily serves mortgage brokers and lenders and believes the next 24 to 36 months present a critical gap in the market. “We have the data, whether it's looking at a historical origination date over the last 10 plus years, or looking at a maturity date, or looking at a loan that's active, and then determining who's the lender on this loan, who's the borrower on this loan,” Capitalize CEO Luke Morris told GlobeSt.com.
Capitalize’s platform provides access to commercial real estate finance data, including loan originations, lender profiles, lender contacts and borrower information. That data allows lenders to identify properties approaching CRE mortgage maturities and use them as prospecting opportunities. “There's always going to be maturities right that are upcoming,” Morris said. “That information is valuable, but that's part of the overall value that we believe that we're going to create.”
The startup is also looking beyond refinancing. Morris said Capitalize intends to build tools that automate routine activities between brokers and lenders in order to accelerate and simplify transactions. “If we can match a broker who's got a borrower or a sponsor to a lender faster, distribute the property and the sponsor information to all of those lenders faster, more seamlessly, that's going to speed up the closing process for everyone,” he said. Greater efficiency, he added, means more transparency and additional time for deal-making in what has traditionally been one of the most illiquid markets.
Artificial intelligence is also part of the company’s long-term vision. Morris described it not in the abstract but as a collection of practical tools. Machine learning and software agents are capable of aggregating, cleansing and interpreting data more quickly and cost-effectively. Over time, he said, the technology could evolve to understand users deeply and anticipate how it might best serve them.
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