Earlier this week, The National Association of Realtors’ strategic investment arm, Second Century Ventures, unveiled the seven companies that will make up this year's REach class. The chosen organizations will benefit from the technology accelerator program throughout the year.

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Second Century Ventures provides education, mentorship, and market exposure in the hope that the program will serve as "a catalyst for new technologies, new opportunities, and new talent."

The seven companies provide a broad range of products and services—from security to business marketing to commercial real estate lending. Here's a round-up of this year's class:

• Asset Avenue (Los Angeles): An online peer-to-peer lending platform for the commercial real estate industry, it provides borrowers and brokers with quick and reliable access to competitively priced loans financed by accredited and institutional investors.
• BoostUp (Detroit): This program helps people save for a down payment on their next car or home by offering a dollar-for-dollar match on their savings from brand partners, family, and friends.
• Guard Llama (Chicago): This mobile personal security system expedites the emergency dispatching process when dialing 911 is not possible.
• Loop & Tie (Austin, Texas and New York): The company simplifies personalized gifting for businesses to help promote brands, win business, and build goodwill.
• NotaryCam (Newport Beach, Calif.): They provides companies and individuals with the ability to have documents notarized online from anywhere in the world, at any time, by a network of certified, licensed notaries.
• Pro.com (Seattle): This home services marketplace helps homeowners price out projects and matches them with a certified professional in their area.
• TermScout (Denver): This is an intelligence application for business-to-business sales professionals.

The seven companies range from seed stage to well-capitalized startups backed by world-renowned investors. The REach program differs from other accelerators in both its vertical focus within real estate and related industries and in the growth stage at which most companies enter the program.

"[These companies] are seizing an opportunity for rapid growth within the real estate, finance and home services via REach, which will ultimately help them expand into other vertical marketplaces,” says Constance Freedman, managing director of Second Century Ventures and REach. “We help companies build credibility in our key sectors of focus to use as a base for expanding into other relevant markets.”

NAR says the program received more than double the applicants it did in 2014. This year's class was selected based on solid business models, executable plans, and significant potential to impact the real estate industry. On average, past REach participants have doubled their customer base and collectively raised more than $34 million in financing both during and after completing the program.

“This year’s REach class is made up of truly phenomenal organizations that are innovating both within and beyond the real estate space,” said Dale Stinton, NAR CEO and president of Second Century Ventures. “We are looking forward to introducing the new class to NAR’s 1 million members while providing the companies with access to experts and influencers in the real estate, insurance, mortgage and financial services industries.”

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Mike Wheatley is the senior editor at Realty Biz News. Got a real estate related news article you wish to share, contact Mike at [email protected].

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