EXtrance is revolutionizing the real estate fund sector with state-of-the-art technology. The company was founded in 2020 by real estate investment expert, William Lively. Using ultra-secure blockchain technology and powerful AI-driven analytics, EXtrance provides its clients with a significant competitive edge. Recognized as the Best AI-Enabled Real Estate Investment Management Platform 2023 – USA, we speak with William to find out more.
William Lively is no stranger to the investment world. He began his career with one of the first investment firms to use blockchain in the United States, DCI Capital Investors. In late 2017, William left the firm to co-found SyndEX Labs, a financial services tech firm focused on global commercial real estate. During his time as CEO of SyndEX, William oversaw the building of the first blockchain-based CRE investor ecosystem. This enabled the company to build strategic partnerships with both IBM and the Americas Group.
In 2020, William took a backseat at SyndEX to focus his energy on EXtrance. Partnering with leaders in data management, machine learning and AI, fund administration, and commercial real estate, EXtrance offers a one-of-a-kind investment platform for the real estate fund sector.
The EXtrance platform boasts a wealth of features including real-time investment analytics. It allows fund portfolio and asset managers to manage investments in a more effective way by reducing time and effort. Using blockchain technology, the company creates infallible records that mitigate both legal and financial risks, not to mention reducing the expense associated with electronic record storage.
William says, “The intuitive user interface that EXtrance provides gives stakeholders seamless access to historical and current performance, trends, and returns. It features flexible permission-based controls that govern internal access for the manager and external access for the investor or vendor. Our AI-enabled systems provide automatically generated investment analytics with customizable KPIs such as XIRR, multiples, estimated returns, cash yield, and cap rates.”
The company lists its values as innovation, shared vision, client focus, dynamism, respect, and collaboration. William explains one value in particular: “Being a dynamic company has become a stronger core value of ours since EXtrance’s establishment. We’ve gained clarity around the importance of remaining adaptable to the changing technological and economic landscapes. Our product is highly technical. It has many different parts that need to work together. That has shown us the importance of being nimble and thinking on our feet. Whilst it’s important to always keep our shared vision and mission top of mind, we’ve also found that it’s crucial to stay dynamic in our approach. When you have so much passion for what you’re building, it’s easy to get tunnel vision. We try to keep an open mind and always stay positive in the face of change.”
Having built and proven its technology in the marketplace, EXtrance has already pushed and extended the boundaries of possibility into unknown territory. The company is setting new industry standards in the realms of both performance and security. William says, “We’ve changed the game. We’re so excited for more people to learn about EXtrance and how we can help them and their fund. Whether that’s reducing FTEs and expenses, attracting more capital, or empowering their front and back offices. We offer a full ecosystem that amplifies best practices.”
EXtrance is working to make investing in commercial real estate more manageable and attractive for everyone, from the smallest to the largest investor. Providing innovative technology, combined with access to dedicated experts, the company offers a holistic solution to many challenges faced by private real estate funds and their investors. William explains, “By leveraging innovative technologies like machine learning and blockchain to streamline processes and make things more efficient, we’re opening up possibilities which enable funds to reach their full potential. Migrating their processes onto the EXtrance platform allows partners to grow their funds without needing more personnel.”
A subject not often discussed with regard to Limited Partnership (LP) investing is what occurs when an investor needs to exit an investment or is unable to fund capital calls. LP agreements often have dilution clauses, yet do not have buy/sell provisions. Monetizing a position can be cumbersome given regulatory issues and the small pool from which replacement investors can be sought. It’s common for investors to exit their position at a substantial discount, sometimes as high as 40%.
Seeing the potential for a technology-based solution to the problem of illiquidity, the company created its EXtrance QMS (Qualified Matching Service). The first of its kind, this exclusive investment ecosystem allows fund managers to efficiently onboard new capital and meet funding shortfalls.
We ask William to tell us about the team at EXtrance. He explains, “The team at EXtrance is very lean. We leverage the expertise of a diverse board of advisors. This allows us to gain insights from well-established, respected leaders whilst maintaining a small core team. We have advisors who specialise in commercial real estate, investment management, business law, marketing, and entrepreneurship. They’ve helped elevate EXtrance to heights we wouldn’t have been able to reach with a more conventional structure.”
The lean team is diligent in maintaining a high level of communication and works in close collaboration. William says, “We all share the same powerful vision, lofty goals, and high expectations for the company. We have a great deal of confidence in the product and in our team. We’ve created an environment that fosters creativity, productivity, and overall success. Our commitment to effective teamwork is a core value that has proven key to achieving our goals and objectives.”
Looking to the future, EXtrance plans to cement its place as a leader in its field as AI and blockchain technology continue to develop. The company will be looking to expand its use of AI in every facet of its product. For example, the team foresees an operator having a direct conversation with the platform to get advice on how to increase profits. To revolutionize the industry even further, the team is also looking into using AI to predict the future of investments with high accuracy.
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