DIGITAL MAGICS LAUNCHES WIKIRE: THE FIRST ITALIAN STARTUP FOR ESTATE AGENTS
The incubator supports the strategic development and technology of the digital startup which represents the beginning of a systematic alliance to create “disruption” and innovation in the real estate field
WIKIRE developed the “social” system dedicated to real estate professionals which aimed to create a network among colleagues with whom to share information in order to increase transparency, contacts and transactions, through the power of the web
Soon WIKICASA.it will be online: the portal of real estate ads for users promoted only by intermediaries
Milan, March 9, 2015 – Digital Magics – certified incubator of innovative digital startups and digital scaleups, listed on the AIM market of the Italian Stock Exchange (symbol: DM) – launches WIKIRE: the first Italian innovative startup to have developed a free online platform dedicated to real estate agents who are officially qualified and registered with the Chamber of Commerce.
WIKIRE is divided into two parts:
- WIKIRE.it is an MLS (multiple listing service) technology platform. It is “social”, open and flexible, and it allows an agent to share their portfolio with all agents registered or with their own private network of colleagues, which can be created autonomously and easily. WIKIRE.it promises to increase business opportunities for agencies. Thanks to WIKIRE, agencies will have the opportunity to compete and collaborate with each other. WIKIRE.it has the ultimate goal to become the largest real estate database ― official and institutional ― with the function of providing data to make estimates and valuations of property, also integrating other MLS and preexisting management systems.
- WIKICASA.it will be online in the coming weeks. WIKICASA.it is a portal of real estate ads placed only by professionals of real estate. The website will increase the quality of the information in terms of control, update and precision, giving more transparency and reliability to users who look for a property on the web.
Digital Magics is supporting WIKIRE in the strategic and technology development, offering its high-profile services of incubation and acceleration and focusing on the business development of the startup. The agreement provides that the incubator will hold 5% of the shares.
Digital Magics has identified in the idea of ​​Pietro Pellizzari, Founder of WIKIRE, a model scalable and highly disruptive. The incubator has in fact always been committed to launch and support system initiatives aimed at creating innovation in more traditional sectors.
In the coming months a campaign of equity fundraising will be launched, directed towards agents and networks of real estate agents in order to turn all the players in the real estate into real WIKIRE partners, by involving them directly in the management and growth of the startup.
The idea was conceived by the Founder Pietro Pellizzari (26 years old, born in Castelfranco Veneto). A graduate in Business Administration and Management from  Bocconi University. After an educational experience in Prelios (formerly Pirelli RE), he moved to Sydney and joined Rocket Internet, the most important incubator of startups in the world. He followed the online marketing of the Australian market for the venture incubator, becoming passionate about the world of innovation and startups. Back in Italy he was responsible for two and a half years of communication and marketing on the web for Tree Real Estate (Group Gabetti). At the end of 2014 he decided to abandon the prospect of permanent employment in favor of his own venture, putting together the skills acquired in real estate and digital field.
Pellizzari therefore proposed his idea to Gabetti Property Solutions, a leader in the real estate market, which due to their confidence gave support to the project by participating in WIKIRE with the integration of its management software, Treeplat. Another important member of the startup is Antlia, a software company specializing in information technology for real estate and also for the financial sector and insurance. In January 2015 Pellizzari founded WIKIRE: advanced negotiations are already underway with other operators of the system to get them involved in the project.
Boraso.com, one of the web agencies with more experience in the real estate field, is a partner of the startup.
Pietro Pellizzari, Founder of WIKIRE, said: “With WIKIRE we want to return the central role in real estate to the agents and their professionalism. We are convinced that the true legacy of an agency is represented by information and, thanks to our platform, information will be exploited to the fullest. We want to involve and include all actors in the system – from the individual agents and real estate companies, up to the associations as FIAP, ANAMA and FIMAA – in order to create the first Italian operator for quality of data collected: all managed directly by real estate professionals.”
Enrico Gasperini, Founder and Chairman of Digital Magics, said: “After the publishing industry – with EDICOLA ITALIANA – and the tourism field – with Tripitaly, whose launch is planned in conjunction with Expo Milano 2015 – now the real estate market in Italy will be subjected to a revolution thanks to the digital era. WIKIRE represents the beginning of an important systematic alliance of all industry players towards innovation. For over two years, in fact, Digital Magics develops ‘Open Innovation’ programs, in support of Italian firms starting right from startups and our incubator, which becomes a real platform for research and development for companies.”
IN THE UNITED STATES OVER 80% OF ESTATE AGENTS MAKE USE OF AN MLS AND IN THE REST OF THE WORLD STRATEGIC SYSTEM INITIATIVES START
In 2014 the real estate sector went through a period of considerable turmoil in the United States. The three most important stages were:
- Zillow, the first American portal for web traffic, bought the second operator Trulia for a value of $ 3.5 billion.
- The acquisition of Move Inc., the company that manages Realtor.com (over 800 MLS) the third site for traffic and the first for data quality, by Rea Group for $ 950 million.
- Realogy Holdings Corp., the group that controls more than 13,000 real estate agencies, acquired ZipRealty for 166 million.
According to the Member Profile of the National Association of REALTORS®, in the US more than 80% of real estate agents use an MLS system several times a week and 90% of transactions take place through the sharing of their portfolio (50% of property sold by other colleagues, 40% of properties sold by the rest of the network).
In recent months in Anglo-Saxon countries, new agents were born, directly controlled by major real estate groups. In England the project Agents Mutual was launched, an initiative promoted by British agents with the support of major players such as Savills, Knight Frank, Chesterton Humberts, Strutt and Parker, Douglas & Gordon and Glentree Estates, in addition to associations such as NAEA, ARLA to counter the market leaders Rightmove and Zoopla, with the new portal of ads Onthemarket.com.
As to Australia, Squiiz was born (controlled by LJ Hooker, Remax, Century 21, Ray White, Harcourts, Raine & Horne, PRD Nationwide and Belle Property) to return data control to real estate agents, today in the hands of realestate.com. au, leader of the Australian market and controlled by Rea Group.
This press release is online at www.digitalmagics.com under Investor Relations – Press Release.
WIKIRE – www.wikire.it
WIKIRE is the first Italian innovative startup to have developed a free online platform dedicated to real estate agents who are officially qualified and registered with the Chamber of Commerce.
WIKIRE is divided into two parts: WIKIRE.it and WIKICASA.it. WIKIRE.IT is an MLS (multiple listing service) technology platform. It is “social”, open and flexible, and it allows an agent to share their portfolio with all agents registered or with their own private network of colleagues, which can be created autonomously and easily. WIKIRE.it promises to increase business opportunities for agencies (more real estate property for customer requests and more customer requests for real estate properties, automatic intersections between supply and demand). Thanks to WIKIRE, agencies will have the possiblity to compete and collaborate with each other.
WIKIRE.it has the ultimate goal to become the largest real estate database ― official and institutional ― with the function of providing data to make estimates and valuations of property, also integrating other MLS and preexisting management systems.
WIKICASA.it will come online in the coming weeks. WIKICASA.it is a portal of real estate ads placed only by professionals of real estate. The website will increase the quality of the information in terms of control, update and precision, giving more transparency and reliability to users who look for a property on the web.
Digital Magics – www.digitalmagics.com
Digital Magics is a certified venture incubator of innovative digital startups that offer content and services with a high technological value, in addition to scaleups – innovative companies that are experiencing a period of growth and expansion. Digital Magics is listed on AIM Italia, the Alternative Capital Market dedicated to small and medium-sized Italian enterprises with high growth potential, organised and managed by the Italian Stock Exchange. Digital Magics builds and develops Internet start-ups, working alongside their founders, investing its capital and providing acceleration services. Starting from talents and ideas, it transforms them into successful disruptive businesses in the Italian and international digital economy. The incubator promotes a culture of entrepreneurship and risk, contributing to economic growth and employment for young people. Digital Magics offers services to support the innovation, creation and development of digital start-ups, and it supports them in the search for new Italian and international private and public investors to fund the successive stages of development. The Digital Magics model is unique in Italy and is based on the Digital Magics LAB: the team that identifies, analyses and launches new initiatives, providing innovative start-ups with digital business acceleration services for company development. Digital Magics has a track record of over 40 investments in start-ups. It has achieved 7 exits, and 6 write-offs. To date, the incubator has invested approximately €16.53 million, of which €5 million comes from exits. Currently, the average investment is around €300,000.
Integrae SIM acts as a Nomad and Specialist under the AIM Italia Issuers Regulations. For communication transmissions, Digital Magics makes use of the SDIR-NIS circuit, operated by BIt Market Services, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group.
For further information:
WIKIRE
Mail: info@wikire.it
Digital Magics – Press Office
Giorgio Bocchieri – Mail: giorgio.bocchieri@digitalmagics.com
Tel. 02 52505202 – Mob. 334 6853078
IR Top – Investor Relations
Floriana Vitale – Mail: f.vitale@irtop.com
Domenico Gentile – Mail: d.gentile@irtop.com
Tel. 02 45473884
Integrae SIM – Nomad
Mail: info@integraesim.it
Tel. 02 78625300
