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inventivaindia · 6 years ago

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Our 3 favorite startups from Urban-X’s 4th demo day

Urban-X, the urban-tech startup accelerator backed by MINI and early-stage urban-tech fund Urban.Us, hosted a demo day today for its fourth cohort of companies at its Brooklyn HQ. The seven presenting companies offered solutions to issues plaguing modern cities, including toll-road pricing, energy and construction management, and even the inefficiencies of modern cycling helmets.

In a day that…

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#Accelerator #BMW #civic tech #gov tech #mini #real estate #Rentlogic #smart cities #startups #Talent #TC #Urban Tech #urban-x #urban.us #venture capital

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jimivaey · 6 years ago

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Rentlogic lands millions to grade NYC real estate for renters and landlords

A company called Rentlogic has raised $2.4 million to take the guesswork out of determining whether that cheap, beautiful New York apartment is actually a deathtrap wrapped in a brownstone’s clothing.

Renting in New York is murder already, but using Rentlogic, apartment hunters can figure out if their new housing situation could actually kill them (or put them at significant risk of bodily or…

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#Rentlogic lands millions to grade NYC real estate for renters and landlords

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moneyhealthfinance-blog · 6 years ago

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Rentlogic raises $2.4 million in seed funding to grade NYC apartment buildings

Rentlogic, a tech platform utilizing an algorithm and public data to grade New York City residential buildings, just closed a $ 2.4 million seed funding round.

The company said that it plans to use the new funding to expand its operations and sales team.

“This seed round validates the positive impact of Rentlogic’s approach to aiding both property owners and residents,” Rentlogic Founder and CEO…

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#$2.4 #apartment #Buildings #Funding #Grade #Million #Raises #Rentlogic #Seed

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tecnomagzne-blog · 7 years ago

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Wish to Show Your Enterprise Is Honest? Audit Your Algorithm

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Yale Fox’s enterprise doesn’t work until everybody thinks its truthful. His startup, Rentlogic, depends on an algorithm to attain New York Metropolis landlords on how nicely they handle their properties. It’s a simple approach for tenants to keep away from bedbugs and mildew, and for landlords to sign they take excellent care of their properties. But it surely isn’t sufficient for…

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#algorithm #artificial intelligence #Audit #Business #ethics #Fair #prove #rentlogic

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livioacerbo · 6 years ago

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Rentlogic lands millions to grade NYC real estate for renters and landlords

A company called Rentlogic has raised $2.4 million to take the guesswork out of determining whether that cheap, beautiful New York apartment is actually a deathtrap wrapped in a brownstone’s clothing. Renting in New York is murder already, but using Rentlogic, apartment hunters can figure out if their new housing situation could actually kill them (or put them …

Continue reading “Rentlogic lands…

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#greengroundit #italy #livio acerbo #tour #travel

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startupmag · 6 years ago

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Rentlogic lands millions to grade NYC real estate for renters and landlords https://ift.tt/2n8kHMf

#Startups – TechCrunch #startup #startupnews #startuplife

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nycopendata · 6 years ago

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NYC Open Data Announces Winners of 1st Annual Citywide Competition!

In case you missed it, the winners of the Open Data citywide competition were announced! Talented New Yorkers from all over the city submitted projects based on one or more of the City’s 2,000+ Open Data sets.

This exciting Competition gives New Yorkers the opportunity to be featured on the new Open Data Project Gallery receive a Certificate of Recognition from the Mayor. First place winners will also be invited to present at an upcoming NYC Open Data Event.

The NYC Open Data team today announced four first place winners of the NYC Open Data Project Gallery Contest:

Data Science Award

For the most compelling data analysis using at least one dataset from NYC Open Data

WINNER: Plan(t)wise: planning a green canopy over the Big Apple

Submitted by Niki Athanasiadou.

This project shows which trees can grow the best in NYC based on growth history and survival.

Most Creative Award

For the most compelling visual analysis using at least one dataset from NYC Open Data

WINNER: An Interactive Visualization of Street Trees

Submitted by Allen Yee of cloudred.

This creative project shows the variety and quantity of street trees in all five boroughs. Ever wonder what the most/least common tree in NYC is? Well this project is the place to look!

Mayor’s Civics Award

For the project that best facilitates engaging in civil society and uses at least one dataset from NYC Open Data

WINNER: myPB.community

Submitted by Bitsy Bentley & Hadassah Damien of Participatory Budgeting Project’s Participation Lab:

Open Data Award

For the project that had the highest overall rating and uses at least two datasets from NYC Open Data

WINNER: myPB.community

Submitted by Bitsy Bentley & Hadassah Damien of Participatory Budgeting Project’s Participation Lab:

The Open Data award goes to myPB.community. The project uses a democratic process to help community members decide how to spend public money. The PBNYC completed its 7th cycle of voting in about 60% of the Districts across the city, spending about $30 million tax dollars in the process!

Second and third place winners in various award categories included:

BoardStat by BetaNYC in partnership with the Manhattan Borough President's Office, Manhattan Community Boards, Microsoft Cities & CUNY Service Corps.

311 Data & Life in NYC by Oleh Dubno & Danny Argov

RentLogic by Yale Fox

NYC Data Explorer by William P Karavites

Open Sewer Atlas NYC by Korin Tangtrakul of Open Sewer Atlas of NYC

After the Pride Parade by Wenfei Xu of CARTO

Five Communities of Williamsburg by Wenfei Xu of CARTO

NYC Open Data is an opportunity to engage New Yorkers in the information that is produced and used by City government. The platform hosts more than 2,000 data assets that are regularly used by entrepreneurs, students, nonprofits, journalists, city staff and others. Each week, more than 20,000 users visit the platform at nyc.gov/opendata. The NYC Open Data program started in 2010 and was strengthened by the NYC Open Data Law (Local Law 11 of 2012), and a series of additional amendments which mandate that City agencies publish all public data on www.nyc.gov/opendata. The Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics (MODA) and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) partner to form the Open Data team.

For more information, contact Adrienne Schmoeker at the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics at [email protected]

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realestatedigitalsales · 5 years ago

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Automation takes hold

by HARRY PROUDLEY Automation is a behind-the-scenes operator in property, often overshadowed by more glamorous technology. However, it is essential in modernising the industry. Here are a few places it’s already being used… Building Internet of Things The Internet of Thing’s specific rapport with real estate dubbed the ‘Building Internet of Things’ (BIoT), has seen advancements in a new strain of smart buildings with the ability to better meet the needs of property owners, managers, and occupiers. Intel is a key player in the development and adoption of IoT technologies and has itself developed smart buildings that showcase the benefits of automation through BIoT. In 2016, Intel finished a 630,000 sq ft office building in Bangalore, India, that is comprehensively IoT enabled. Srinivas Khandavilli, IoT Program Director at Intel comments that “building owners need to move away from closed and proprietary Building Management Systems and towards open systems in order to reap the benefits of the latest technologies.” Such “open systems” include interconnected sensors and modules that generate data automatically, which is then used to engender actionable insights for Intel’s relevant facilities team. Construction Disruption

In a sense, building construction is a form of manufacturing. However, when it comes to the adoption of new technologies, specifically automation, the sector lags woefully behind. Speaking to pbctoday.co.uk, Bryden Wood’s Jaimie Johnston suggests that “just as the iPhone disrupted mobile communications and created the ‘app economy’, Netflix changed TV and IKEA furniture, our industry will be disrupted by automation.” This disruption will come in the form of modern manufacturing processes and mechanisms, designed to drastically reduce waste, and boost productivity. These include; platform construction, where generic designs for door frames and other standard size elements are mass-produced; digitally-enabled workflows that provide a backdrop to the whole process of construction, analysing data and connecting workers; and automated assembly where smaller components of buildings are assembled off-site. Such implementations will help streamline construction for maximum efficiency. Demand for Data

There are a plethora of proptech startups promising to redefine the processes of buying and selling when it comes to real estate, and they rely on massive data banks to fuel the software that automates them. Companies like Zillow and Rentlogic use automation software to analyse a vast amount of public and user-submitted data and generate useful outputs to inform consumers. Rentlogic provides a grading system for over 1.1 million multi-family buildings across New York, granting tenants greater bargaining power with landlords. Zillow generates ‘Zestimates’ for around 110 million US homes. Updated three times a week, the statistic is accurate to within 10%. The automation of these processes gives consumers greater control, while also improving the quality of service at the landlord’s end, and avoiding disputes further down the line. Robotic Realtors

While automation will be integral to the property industry’s enhancement, it is hindered by fears of job losses. In some cases, the replacement of humans with robotic counterparts is a very real possibility. The chief inventor at the Real Estate Advertising Group (REA), Nigel Dalton, believes that real estate robots could replace agents as early as 2020, although he suggests they will only replace “average” agents, as many possess skills that a robot could not suitably replicate. As with the introduction of virtual reality in real estate showings, automation will see customers been taken to houses via a self-drive Tesla, and then being given a tour of the property by a dedicated robot, according to Dalton. Tasks such as data collection and processing are ripe for automation, due to their predictability, however, rather than taking jobs, this will allow individuals in the sector to better focus their more human attributes. Already we are seeing a significant presence of automation in the real estate sector, with virtual assistants and chat-bots forming close relationships with both clients and agents. Read more https://global.goreds.today/real-estate-are-these-three-cs-the-key-to-the-real-estate-revolution/ Read the full article

#Automationtakeshold

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un-enfant-immature · 6 years ago

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NYC launches partnership network, “The Grid”, to help grow urban tech ecosystem

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and CIV:LAB – a nonprofit dedicated to connecting urban tech leaders – have announced the launch of The Grid, a member-based partnership network for New York’s urban tech community. The goal of the network is to link organizations, academia and local tech leaders, in order to promote collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and resources.

In addition to connecting member companies and talent, The Grid will host various events, educational programs, and co-innovation projects, while hopefully improving access to investors as well as pilot program opportunities. The Grid is launching with over 70 member organizations – approved through an application and screening process – across various stages and sectors.

In recent years, the tech and startup scene in New York has notably ballooned – evolving from the Valley’s obscure younger sibling to one of the top cities for talent, entrepreneurship, and venture capital investment. And while the city has seen countless startups, VCs, accelerators, and other entrepreneurial resources set up shop within its borders, getting the right tools in place is only part of the battle.

New York wants to prove its initiatives are more than just “show-and-tell” projects and city officials believe that building a truly sustainable innovation economy is dependent on all its local resources working in conjunction, allowing entrepreneurship to permeate every arm of commerce. With an institutionalized network like The Grid, New York hopes it can further fuse its pockets of innovation into to one well-oiled machine, consistently producing transformative ideas.

“The Grid represents a promising new way for NYCEDC to work across sectors to strengthen collaboration and innovation, first in New York City and hopefully soon in many more cities across the country and around the world,” said NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett in a statement. “It signals that New York City is leading with a new approach to technology and startup culture, with a real focus on diversity, inclusion, equity, and community.”

As one of the largest and most industrially diverse cities in the world, New York has naturally placed a heightened focus on the growing sector of “urban tech” – which has been broadly categorized as innovation focused on improving city functionality, equality or ease of living. According to NYCEDC, the urban tech space has seen nearly $80 billion in VC investment since 2016, with nearly 10% going to New York-based beneficiaries.

The launch of The Grid is part of an expansion of NYCEDC’s larger UrbanTech NYC program, which has already helped establish the New York innovation hubs New Lab, Urban Future Lab, and Company. Alongside the membership network and a new site for UrbanTech NYC, NYCEDC is also launching The Grid Academy, an adjacent academic group with the mission of creating applied R&D partnerships between local academic institutions and corporate sponsors. The expansion of UrbanTech NYC represents the latest of several initiatives NYCEDC is pursuing to develop the broader ecosystem, coming just months after the EDC announced the launch of Cyber NYC, a $30 million investment initiative focused on growing New York’s cybersecurity presence and infrastructure.

The group will be led by a steering committee that will guide decisions related to strategic priorities, funding, events, and communications. Members of the committee include some of The Grid’s largest government and corporate members including the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Civic Hall, Company, New Lab, Urban Future Lab, Dreamit UrbanTech, URBAN-X, Urban.Us, Accenture, Samsung NEXT, Rentlogic, Smarter Grid Solutions, Civic Consulting USA, and the World Economic Forum.

“Since its early days, innovation has been part of the DNA that is New York City,” said Jeff Merritt, Head of IoT + Smart Cities at World Economic Forum. “Nowhere else in the world can you find an ecosystem that combines as many industries and nationalities. New York’s thriving urban technology community is a natural byproduct of what happens when you allow diversity, entrepreneurship and ambition to collide in one of the greatest cities in the world.”

The Grid’s first meeting will be held on February 19th at Samsung NEXT’s New York HQ. Membership applications for The Grid are accepted on a rolling basis and can be found here on the UrbanTech NYC website.

#TechCrunch

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marviinmelton · 7 years ago

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This logo is like an “organic” sticker for algorithms

For fruits and veggies, there’s organic. For coffee and clothes, there’s fair trade. Now, algorithms have their own certification mark: a seal of approval that designates them accurate, unbiased, and fair.

The seal is the brainchild of Cathy O’Neil, a statistician and author who has written extensively about how biased algorithms exacerbate inequality in society. Her writing–both on her blog Math Babe and her influential 2016 book Weapons of Math Destruction–has become a touchstone in conversations about the way algorithms in the areas of hiring, insurance, criminal justice, and credit can negatively impact people’s lives. Last summer, O’Neil launched her own company, O’Neil Risk Consulting and Algorithmic Auditing, or ORCAA, with the aim of helping organizations, including the rental startup Rentlogic, that rely on algorithms to ensure that they’re not accidentally harming people.

“People don’t really check that things are working,” she explains. “They don’t even know how to ask the question.”

[Image: Katie Falkenberg/courtesy ORCAA]

O’Neil’s new venture tackles the problem inherent in using algorithms that are optimized for certain metrics over others. For instance, Facebook optimizes for engagement to maximize profits, rather than factuality or civil discourse. Of course, only companies that care about fairness and accuracy will submit to an audit, which means that the worst perpetrators of algorithmic injustice would likely never agree to O’Neil looking at their code. But ORCAA offers companies and organizations that do care a service designed to ensure their algorithms aren’t inaccurate, discriminatory, or unintentionally (or not) breaking civil rights laws.

Along with its audit, the company bestows a visual seal designed to act as a signal to users that a company is trustworthy–and that, on a basic level, its products use algorithms in the first place. The seal is a visual emblem that translates the audit into branding and marketing value, taking a step toward a world where companies proudly display their dedication to honest algorithms.

To test a particular algorithm, O’Neil creates what she calls an “ethical matrix:” a complete list of the company’s concerns, like profit, efficiency, and data quality, as well as the concerns of anyone who the algorithm could impact, whether that’s people of different races, genders, and abilities. Then, she methodologically tests the algorithm for each concern and color-codes the matrix: green means all good, yellow means there could be a problem, and red means that harm is being done in some capacity. Once she’s had a conversation with the company’s leaders about the ethical matrix and where they stand, O’Neil works with the company’s coders and data scientists to adjust its algorithms in such a way that removes the red boxes from matrix. The length of time it takes to certify an algorithm depends on how many people it impacts; one recent client took four months.

While the crux of her company is the actual auditing process, the certification itself is just as important. O’Neil gives organizations that have passed the audit a certificate and the seal of approval to put on their website. The seal is a statement about a company’s values–and its brand.

So far, ORCAA has certified Rentlogic and one other company and has a dozen or so more that are interested. Right now, O’Neil is working with a law firm on analyzing how a recidivism algorithm was used in a parole hearing, and helping Seimens build an internal auditing system. ORCAA’s seal of approval has turned into real monetary value for Rentlogic, which received funding from an investor in part because the VC was so impressed with the startup’s initiative to get the certification, as Wired reports.

“If [the certification is] trustworthy, my seal of approval will do exactly what it’s supposed to do, which is transfer trust from people deploying algorithms to people who have a stake in the algorithm,” O’Neil says. “They’ll trust that it’s been examined, been fairly adjudicated, that their concerns have been balanced with the concerns of the people building it.”

The seal also has value because it’s a recognizable format: we’re used to seeing food items and products that have been certified for environmental friendliness and safety.

“For better or worse, it’s something people are used to, like the organic certification,” says Katie Falkenberg, the designer who created ORCAA’s logo and seal. “From a design standpoint, takes up a lot less real estate than 17 pages of text explaining what that means.”

Falkenberg says that O’Neil requested an image of a killer whale for her company’s logo that looked “fat and fierce.” [Image: Katie Falkenberg/courtesy ORCAA]

These systems alone don’t engender trust. Falkenberg points out how “organic,” despite its ubiquity, is a loaded term, with a host of somewhat arbitrary requirements and negative side-effects, like farmers going out of business. Even O’Neil points to another example of how certifications aren’t always the answer: after all, bestowing risky, obtuse mortgage-backed securities with “AAA” ratings helped lead to the 2008 financial crisis. She plans to make her seal of approval completely transparent and open source, with extensive writing on her website that details exactly what it means and what the process is.

Right now, the seal is a simple ring design with ORCAA’s killer whale logo and text that reads, “Algorithm audited for accuracy, bias, and fairness,” with the date. Falkenberg hopes to one day update it so it gets timestamped from the date it’s uploaded to a company’s website. Because algorithms are constantly changing, Falkenberg wants the seal to let users know when an algorithm was last certified. She also hopes to link the seal to O’Neil’s website so users can understand exactly what it means when they see it.

[Image: Katie Falkenberg/courtesy ORCAA]

Beyond giving companies the chance to prove to their users that they take algorithmic fairness seriously, the seal also has an educational component. “It flags something for people to say, ‘oh, I didn’t realize they were using an algorithm, I guess I should consider what other websites might be using algorithms,'” Falkenberg says. She imagines one day being able to install a browser extension that blocks all sites that haven’t had an algorithm audit.

O’Neil hopes the ethical matrix and the seal are a way to bring problems of bias and fairness to companies’ attention and start a conversation that the wider public can participate in. However, she’s clear that widespread algorithmic fairness is still a long way away. Her current clients have come to her because they want to engender trust with users–they’re already aware of how algorithms can harm users. These aren’t the companies building truly nefarious software. She doesn’t expect those organizations to allow her to audit their tech unless these kinds of audits are required by law.

“I didn’t start this business to only deal with algorithms that are pretty good,” she says. “I want to eventually nail the truly terrible, destructive algorithms to the wall and say, this is not good enough, we deserve better than this.”

This logo is like an “organic” sticker for algorithms published first on https://petrotekb.tumblr.com/

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nightmare-afton-cosplay · 7 years ago

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Is Your Landlord a Building-Code Violator? New Service Aims to Tell You

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

For most New York residents, it is easier to find out whether the local hamburger joint has a mouse problem than if an apartment they are about to rent has no heat in the winter or a cockroach infestation.

Rentlogic, a New York-based startup, aims to create more transparency by assigning letter grades to apartment buildings based on housing-code violations data, which track issues such as climate control, mold, bed bugs and vermin infestations.

In its biggest deal yet, Rentlogic recently signed an agreement with Stuyvesant town-Peter Cooper Village, the 11,200-unit complex in Manhattan that is owned by Blackstone Group LP, to display the complex’s rating in its leasing office.

Rentlogic rates all apartment buildings in the city using publicly available data supplemented by in-person inspections, and assigns them a grade of A through F. Renters can download a browser extension that allows them to see buildings’ ratings when they are searching for apartments online on most real-estate websites.

Landlords have the option to purchase a plaque from Rentlogic to display on their property or in their leasing office, showing prospective tenants they have received a high grade. The price of the plaques ranges from $1,000 to $10,000 a year.

The model is similar to the one used in the bond-ratings industry, in which bond issuers pay one of the ratings firms to grade their debt.

Because Rentlogic makes money only off landlords that receive a high grade, there could be incentive to produce more landlord-friendly results. Yale Fox, Rentlogic’s founder, said he recently hired a mathematician to audit the company’s algorithm. He also plans to install an independent 21-person board made of tenant advocates, real-estate executive and city officials.

“The more fair our algorithm is, the more profitable the company becomes. We’re selling a service that we want everybody to trust,” he said.

Currently, Rentlogic only operates in New York City, but Mr. Fox said he plans to expand over the next two years to most major North American cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto. Mr. Fox said he has received funding from friends, family and venture capitalists and is trying to raise an additional $3.5 million.

Mr. Fox founded the company in 2013 based on his experience working as a landlord of a rental property in Toronto and with a problem landlord in New York City. He found traditional forms of tenant advocacy had limited persuasive power because they had minimal effect on landlords’ bottom lines.

“It ends up being a rent strike or a protest, which works really well sometimes and not other times. It’s a lot of people yelling back and forth. If you’re a billionaire landlord or a slumlord, you don’t really care,” he said.

Landlord groups say they have concerns about relying on code violations, which track not only big problems but also minor ones such as a missing light switch cover or an absent sign.

“The housing-maintenance code is grossly outdated. It’s misleading,” said Frank Ricci, director of government affairs at the Rent Stabilization Association.

Mr. Fox said the results are weighted based on the severity of the violation. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted a system requiring restaurants to display a letter grade of A, B or C based on their most recent health-code inspection. Rentlogic draws on a similar concept, though it is more limited because landlords aren’t required to display a poor grade. Tenants can still find out about “F” landlords online.

When Blackstone purchased Stuyvesant Town two years ago, the property had recently improved from a “C” grade to a “B” grade. It had 122 violations over a 2 ½-year period under the previous owner. Since Blackstone bought the property, it has accumulated 37 violations and now has an “A” grade, according to Rentlogic.

Rick Hayduk, chief executive of StuyTown Property Services, said the rating is an “independent validation of our efforts.”

The post Is Your Landlord a Building-Code Violator? New Service Aims to Tell You appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/landlord-building-code-violator-new-service-aims-tell/

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entrepreneurshipetn-blog · 6 years ago

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toomanysinks · 6 years ago