From an early age, Bar Mor knew it was inevitable that he would do something in real estate. His family was involved in all types of real estate projects, from foundation construction to managing residential, commercial, and retail properties.
However, unlike his parents, Mol also had a passion for technology. His interest in technology further grew when he became commander of Unit 8200, the Israeli Defense Force's elite cyber intelligence division known for training technology entrepreneurs.
After leaving the military, he decided to combine his two passions. Mol found that many real estate investors did not have a dedicated system to track various administrative processes, such as managing cash collected from rents, calculating and distributing profits to LPs, and more. and many other administrative functions.
“We have a lot of spreadsheets, emails, [other] It’s a disjointed system that doesn’t interact,” Mo said.
Realizing this, he and his friends Lior Dolinsky and Norm Kahan of Unit 8200 decided to provide data management, report automation, streamlined financing processes, and bookkeeping and tax services to real estate investment companies of all sizes. Founded a software company called Agora.
Mol said when he was first raising money, he told investors he was building Carta for real estate. It's easy to compare. Carta manages cap tables for startups and VCs, among other management functions. Real estate investing is similarly data-intensive, so investors need tools to automate manual tasks and calculate yield.
Agora has tripled its revenue every year since its launch five years ago. Thanks to its strong growth, the company announced Thursday that it has raised $34 million in Series B from Israel-based growth fund Qumra Capital and returning investors Insight Partners and Aleph. This funding brings Agora's total funding to his $63 million.
Mol said raising this latest round of funding was not difficult for the company.
While some real estate investors are struggling in a rising interest rate environment, Agora continues to grow and maintain high customer retention rates, Mol said. “This shows that we're actually solving something that's not a nice-to-have. It's a necessity.”
Agora currently operates primarily in North America, Europe, and Israel, but plans to begin serving customers in other markets such as Central America, South America, and Australia.
Mol's family's real estate experience continues to help build the company.
“I understand how real estate people think, what they value and how they negotiate,” he said.
This knowledge influenced many parts of Agora's business, including how account managers interact with customers. All customers have an account manager's mobile phone number.
“A real estate agent has a broker, he has a lawyer, he has relationships with banks. He wants everything to work out this way,” Moll said, holding his hand next to his ear as if he was holding a phone. I said as I put it down. “The idea is that we are your technology partner. 'Do you need something in your technology?' Call Agora. ”