From a very young age, Barr More knew that he would inevitably do something with real estate. His family has been involved in all kinds of real estate projects, from land construction to managing residential, commercial and commercial properties.
But unlike his parents, More also had a passion for technology. His interest in technology was reinforced when he became a commander in Unit 8200, the elite cyber intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces known for its tech entrepreneurs.
After leaving the military, he decided to combine his two passions: Mohr noticed that many real estate investors lacked a dedicated system to track various back-office processes, such as managing cash collected from rent, calculating and distributing income to their LP. and many other administrative functions.
“We’ve seen companies struggle to manage all these things using multiple spreadsheets, emails and [other] disconnected systems that do not interact with each other,” Mor said.
This realization led him, along with Unit 8200 friends Lior Dolinski and Noam Kahan, to found Buya software company that manages data, automates reporting, streamlines fundraising processes, and provides accounting and tax services for real estate investment firms of various sizes.
Mohr said that when he was initially raising money, he told investors that he was building Carta for real estate. It’s easy to see the comparison: Carta manages capital boards for startups and VCs, along with other administrative functions. Since real estate investing is equally data-intensive, investors need tools that automate manual work and calculate returns.
Agora has tripled its revenue every year since launching five years ago. Thanks to its strong growth, the company announced Thursday that it has raised a $34 million Series B from Israel-based growth fund Qumra Capital, along with returning investors Insight Partners and Aleph. The funding brought Agora’s total funding to $63 million.
Mohr said raising this latest round was not difficult for the company.
Although some real estate investors have struggled amid the rising interest rate environment, Agora has continued to grow and maintain a high customer retention rate, Mor said. “It shows that we are actually solving something that is not pleasant. Necessary”.
Agora currently operates primarily in North America, Europe, and Israel, but plans to begin serving customers in other markets, including Central America, South America, and Australia.
Mohr’s family experience with real estate continues to help him build the company.
“It gave me my personal background [a way] to understand how real estate people think, what they care about and how they negotiate,” he said.
This knowledge has informed various parts of Agora’s business, including how account managers interact with customers. Each customer has the mobile phone number of their account managers.
“The real estate guy, he has his broker, he has his lawyer, he has his banking relationship. He wants it all like this,” More said, putting his hand next to his ear as if holding a phone. “The idea is that we are your technology partner. “Need something with your tech? Call the Market.”
