Hugo Venâncio

1. You are CEO of REATIA, a startup launched in 2018 that uses artificial intelligence and neurolinguistic programming to aggregate information about the properties that are on the market. Can you tell us a bit about your journey and your professional experience?

My first experience as an entrepreneur came in 2008, when I decided to create a company that provided (and provides) services to real estate agencies. In this company I learned how to understand the requirements and needs of the client and I understood the importance that technology has in the solution and optimization of work. This company has grown to the point of becoming a reference franchise.

2. How did the idea of creating this company come along?

Working every day with real estate consultants and real estate agency owners allowed me to know a big gap in Real Estate. I could see that, although the online environment is an essential source for the daily life of any real estate consultant, the quality and access to clean and treated information was non-existent. I noticed that many of the hours of their working day were spent online searching for lots of sites, where the information was duplicated and often outdated (especially in real estate portals).

The idea of REATIA came up in the face of the need to bring transparency and quality of information to a market that needs it to generate more and better business.

3. How does REATIA distinguish itself in the real estate market?

REATIA is the largest real estate base in Portugal. The great advantage of REATIA is that it aggregates thousands of sources/sites online and does its treatment daily.

In addition, our unique technology in the world allows deduplication work to be done without human interaction. This allows properties to enter our listings more quickly.

In addition to our user being able to access a unique and wide list, we deliver other tools within REATIA, such as Market Analysis or Real Estate Valuation.

4. You have closed an investment round worth one million euros. What are the objectives for the company?

The company has proven in Portugal that we are an asset for all Real Estate players (Real Estate Agencies, Portals, Investment Funds, Bank), making us the most used real estate metasearch platform in Portugal.

The investment round will serve to increase our human resources (development, support and sales) and to enter into new european countries. Always with the same objective: to be leaders wherever we are.

5. What is the importance of artificial intelligence in this project?

Artificial intelligence (in its various variants) allows the process of property identification, deduplication and data processing to be done without recourse to human intervention. This allows us to have a very high speed of treatment, to the point where we can treat real estate in the same day.

As such, it allows the company to climb to any other country, quickly and accurately.

6. How is REATIA evolving?

REATIA has had an amazing growth. At the beginning of this year, we had just over 1500 professional users. By the end of last month (October 2020), we already had over 8000. No doubt it attests the importance of our service.

7. As an entrepreneur, what challenges have you found over time?

One of the frequent challenges is related to human resources, in recruitment, in maintaining the company's culture and in valuing the creative and innovative capacity that our employees bring to the company and the business.

What also happens are the high tax burdens that companies have to bear here in Portugal and that take away some capacity to be more competitive and agile.

8. How do you see entrepreneurship today?

We live in a completely atypical time. I believe that companies that manage to be innovative, agile and with great ability to adapt to new demands and realities will always have the possibility to be more successful in face of "normal" times.

I believe that the crisis is still far from over and we will have the impact of these months of pandemic yet to be measured.

9. You were one of the 10 finalists for the João Vasconcelos Award. What does this recognition mean to you?

This recognition is not only mine, but from my entire team who believed in a vision and dedicated themselves to making it a reality. For me, that's exactly it. It is a recognition that the vision of this business has had a tremendous impact on our client, and therefore on the growth of the company.

When we start a project, the probability of something going less well is always higher than the probability of something going well. After a difficult start, a lot of work, sacrifice and self-denial, being in the 10 finalists of the João Vasconcelos Award was a worthwhile recognition.

And our story is still in the beginning.

10. As PARTTEAM & OEMKIOSKS is the leading developer of digital billboards and multimedia kiosks for the international market, what is your opinion about PARTTEAM & OEMKIOSKS and the importance of digital nowadays?

Nowadays, digital is fundamental for the notoriety of brands and the way they communicate with their customers. PARTTEAM & OEMKIOSKS has an unquestionable reputation and the value it brings to its customers and businesses is of great value. Brands need to communicate more and better and PARTTEAM & OEMKIOSKS has been a key player in this.