Recity is Taking Over the Real Estate Data Industry
Guggan Datta is looking to change the way DC and other growing cities think about new and upcoming real estate developmental data. Seeing an opportunity to provide better development data at a lower cost, he founded Recity, a real estate data and analytics company, in 2015. Over the past two years, Datta has crafted the most effective product on the market for real estate professionals to visualize and understand real estate pipeline data. Recity has quickly grown to a team of 12, expanding into four of the largest US real estate markets: Washington, DC, Boston, MA, Seattle, WA, and Chicago, IL. The company hopes to achieve national data coverage as soon as possible.
Datta grew up in the Virginia suburbs of DC. After graduating high school, he continued his studies at Virginia Tech, majoring in Computer Engineering. After graduation, Guggan and a classmate started an electronic evidence discovery startup. After 8 years of steady growth, Datta and his partner sold the business, and he shifted his interest to investing in commercial real estate properties. As he searched for properties in high potential locations, he was shocked to find that there was no real-time source of new development information. Using his knowledge and research of the DC market, Datta built a prototype of what would later become Recity. Since then, the product has evolved to become one of the most unique and innovative real estate products on the market today.
What sets Recity apart is the software’s focus on forward-looking data. Recity does not just track what has been or is being developed in a city but also tracks what the future has in store for these markets. Datta explains that his company is “trying to tell a story about a neighborhood”, which is why they put so much detail into the software they offer to clients. Most of Recity’s customers are investors or developers that have never had access to this level of data before. The software is meant to eliminate the need for cost and time-prohibitive research, typically performed on a deal-by-deal basis. As Datta says, “real-time access to data has transformed a number of industries in recent years, and it’s time for real estate to catch up”.
Datta’s decision to start Recity in DC goes beyond his own home ties to the region. For him, the District is an ideal place to work and live. He is convinced that because of its diverse and well-educated talent pool, it’s also an ideal place to start a business. Since he began investing in early-stage technology companies, he has seen a significant increase in the number of creative startups, as well as the needed resources for early-stage companies to succeed. Additionally, the DC government provides a large amount of open data through its online portals, making the District the perfect place to beta test Recity’s product.
So what’s next for Recity?
Recity is focused on expanding data coverage into all major markets as soon as possible. By early 2018, they will launch New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. While adding cities, they will also continue building new features into the product on a regular basis. To fund growth, they are seeking strategic investment partners who, beyond placing capital, can make introductions as the company expands. Guggan Datta and Recity are bringing a new way to conceive real estate pipeline data to the notoriously slow-moving real estate industry. By providing a look into the future development landscape of major US metro areas, Recity provides real estate professionals the data and tools to make informed and strategic decisions.