Real estate tokenization specialist Propy laid out plans for a $100 million expansion to acquire mid-size property title firms across the U.S., aiming to streamline an industry that still relies heavily on manual processes with blockchain rails and artificial intelligence (AI).
“In the next 12 months, we’ll acquire regional title companies across the country,” Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva told Coindesk in an interview. “This will allow us to get to a billion dollar valuation as a tech company.”
To raise funds for the rollups, Propy has tapped a mix of traditional and onchain lenders, including from decentralized finance (DeFi) credit platform Morpho. Propy claimed that it’s one of the first known examples of drawing onchain private credit to fund M&A activity.
The expansion plans come at a time when interest is growing for real estate tokenization, an effort to digitize property rights and streamline transactions through blockchain for efficiency gains. Title firms focus on verifying a property’s ownership history and ensure there are no legal claims, liens or disputes that could affect the sale. They also issue title insurance and manage the transfer of legal ownership during real estate transactions.
That’s a $25 billion market which still remains largely paper-based and split among nearly 7,000 firms, many of them small mom-and-pop shops, Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva explained Coindesk in an interview.
Propy itself is a licensed title firm and has processed $4 billion in digital real estate transactions automating time-consuming processes with AI. By acquiring mid-sized title firms in states like California, Florida and Texas, the company plans to streamline operations reduce fraud and speed up transaction closing times using blockchain tech and AI, she added.
Central to Propy’s efforts is Agent Avery, an AI escrow agent that was built to address inefficiencies that consume the majority of an escrow officer’s time, the firm said.
Agent Avery was trained on Propy’s transaction data and operates 24/7 supporting both traditional and crypto payments. The tool can save about 40% of the workload, the firm estimated, allowing agents to close more deals.
Along with the expansion and AI development, Propy also added former U.S. Treasury official Chris Campbell and Science Inc. co-founder Mike Jones to its advisory board, joining previous appointees including ex-SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar.