For Valcre, the past 365 days have been a whirlwind. The year 2018 can be summed up in two words for our team: rapid growth. In 2018, we increased our users by 148%, increased our revenue by 162% and are now actively serving appraisers and valuers in multiple countries and continents. We expanded our team, added new features and capabilities to our platform, sponsored a number of industry events and even received a variety of media coverage along the way highlighting our efforts.
As Valcre continues to chart new territory, our mission remains the same: provide an innovative appraisal software platform for the commercial real estate industry. Our technology now serves appraisers and valuers in U.S., Canada, and Australia. To keep Valcre’s worldwide users firing on all cylinders, we integrated metric compatibility across the entire platform.
In addition, we added enhanced and intuitive map searching capabilities to our online database allowing our users to easily search and navigate their own data with ease. A new regional analysis tool was introduced to show employment rates from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics at the National, State, Metropolitan,and County levels, which is available for free here.
This year we added several new faces to the Valcre team. Our founding team continues to fine tune and oversee day-to-day operations. The new team members include expanded Sales, Support and Development teams which ultimately work to provide firms of all sizes our industry leading, fully integrated appraisal software.
With a jam-packed event schedule, the Valcre team found themselves jet-setting from one event to the next. In April, the team hosted a Commercial Appraisal Forum alongside First Citizens Bank in Portland. In May, our CEO Lucas Rotter, represented Valcre at the Appraisal Institute’s Annual Leadership Development & Advisory Council (LDAC) in Washington DC.
In July, the team met in Nashville for the Appraisal Institute Annual Conference where Valcre was a Gold Record Sponsor. More than 500+ industry leaders visited Valcre’s booth, where they saw live demonstrations of Valcre's all-in-one commercial real estate appraisal solution. The team rolled out its new free regional analysis tool at the event, giving interested parties a firsthand experience with Valcre. In the evenings, the team explored downtown Nashville with other conference attendees and co-hosted a networking event with CompStak at the iconic Acme Feed & Seed. Read more about Valcre’s experience in Nashville here.
In September, the team exhibited at CRETech’s Los Angeles event. The event was attended by a record-breaking 300+ industry professionals and discussed how technology is revolutionizing the industry. That same week, Valcre was in San Diego to sponsor the IRS Valuation Symposium, an educational class hosted by the Appraisal Institute where nearly 100 attendees learned about regulations pertaining to the valuation of donated real estate and conservation easements. In October, the team headed to Seattle for the Appraisal Institute Fall Real Estate Conference which featured keynote speakers, presenters, breakout sessions and networking receptions.
At these events, Valcre connected with thousands of top commercial real estate professionals. Valcre is already looking forward to another busy event schedule in 2019 - especially the Appraisal Institute Annual Conference happening in Denver, July 22-24, 2019. Valcre is a Gold Sponsor for this event as well as the North Texas Realty Symposium happening in Dallas, January 25, 2019.
Valcre kicked off 2018 being accepted into the Junto Institute, which is a mentorship program for entrepreneurs looking to fine tune their leadership skills and emotional intelligence. The team graduated from the program in December at an event in Chicago. Since joining Junto, the team has become a better-aligned group and looks forward to more growth in 2019.
Throughout the year, Valcre was featured by several news outlets. At the tail end of 2017, Valcre was featured on CRETECH in its feature “How Emerging Technology is Changing the CRE Appraisal World.” Geekestate Blog interviewed Valcre’s CEO Lucas Rotter about the future of Valcre and what keeps him motivated as a leader in the commercial real estate tech industry. And most recently, Valcre was featured by Daily Deal Flow as a Startup of the Year.
In conclusion, 2018 has given Valcre the opportunities and inspiration to continue leading the commercial real estate appraisal industry. As we head into 2019, the team is excited to share what’s on the horizon for Valcre. But first, a pause to say thank you to our community of users, peers, mentors, family and friends. The Valcre team is grateful for your support and wouldn’t be where we are today without you. Happy holidays!