Proptech AISource: NAR
NAR names 6 startups for Nov. 7 Pitch Battle — BrokerBot CRM AI, Property Shield, HOA data
Original headline: “Meet the 6 Companies Facing Off in NAR’s Upcoming Pitch Battle” — NAR, Oct 13, 2026
NAR reports six startups will pitch on Nov. 7 at NAR NXT in New Orleans for a $15,000 Second Century Ventures grand prize and a Crowd Favorite vote in the eighth annual Tech & Innovation Pitch Battle. The field includes Association Online (HOA data and transaction support), BrokerBot (brokerage-trained AI assistants for onboarding, transaction coordination, CRM admin and marketing), CleanSL8 (smart-home device turnover at closing), KytherID (buyer identity release through a transaction), Property Shield (AI listing-fraud detection and seller/ownership verification for MLSs and associations), and SKLÜT (edge-AI identity kiosks). Judges include Unlock MLS CEO Emily Girard, Realtor.com's Joe Schnieder, Google's Suraj Rajdev and Coldwell Banker Commercial TEC's Mark Inman; last year's judges' winner was new-home platform NEO and Crowd Favorite was SingleKey.
Our take (opinion & analysis, not reporting)
For agents and brokers watching NAR NXT: note BrokerBot if you want branded AI that answers agent questions against your own brokerage manuals rather than a generic chatbot, and Property Shield if listing-fraud spoofs are already a pain in your MLS. Put the Nov. 7 session on your calendar if you will be in New Orleans, and when a vendor later claims “NAR Pitch Battle winner,” check which prize they mean — judges' award versus Crowd Favorite. None of these replace your CRM tomorrow; treat the event as a shortlist of tools to demo after the show.
Online discussion: no notable public discussion found yet (checked Oct 16, 2026).