Compass buys Detectica to support proptech innovation

New York City-based Detectica joins Compass' growing team of technologists

Compass, a real estate technology company, has announced that it has acquired the New York City-based, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) company, Detectica. The Detectica team, including its Founders Dr. Foster Provost and Dr. Panos Ipeirotis, join the Compass AI team led by Chief Technology Officer Joseph Sirosh.

"Compass is building an operating system for the real estate industry and this vast undertaking requires the very best talent in the world. For over a decade Detectica's founders have been among the most widely respected minds in AI and ML. With this acquisition we deepen our platform while at the same time strengthening our ever-growing team of technologists."

— Compass CTO Joseph Sirosh

Over the past year Compass has placed an increasing focus on AI-powered features, including 'Recommended For You' and 'Similar Homes,' enabling the platform to deliver relevant listings to home buyers both on Compass.com and the Compass mobile app. The Detectica acquisition along with the addition of the company's distinguished team will allow Compass to accelerate its efforts in these areas.

Detectica Founders Dr. Provost and Dr. Ipeirotis are both tenured professors at New York University. Dr. Provost is Professor of Data Science, Andre Meyer Faculty Fellow and the Director of the Fubon Data Analytics & AI Center at the Stern School of Business. Dr. Ipeirotis is a Professor and George A. Kellner Faculty Fellow at the Department of Technology, Operations, and Statistics at the Stern School of Business. He is also an associated faculty member at the Center for Data Science and Computer Science departments.

"We're energized by the opportunity to join the Compass team and assist in transforming the way the real estate industry does business by increasing agent productivity. Compass' proprietary software, scale and talented technical team puts the company in a unique position in the space and we look forward to contributing to the future of the industry."

— Dr. Provost and Dr. Ipeirotis in a joint statement

Earlier this month, Compass announced its plans for a new technology hub in India to accelerate software development and deepen tech expertise across the company's growing suite of real estate technology tools. In the past year Compass also acquired real estate CRM tool Contactually, launched a Seattle tech hub and saw an overall growth of its technical team by 200%.

Founded in 2012 by Ori Allon and Robert Reffkin, Compass serves more than 14,000 agents across 100+ cities in the United States. By continually iterating on the smartest real estate tech tools built by the brightest minds across engineering, design and strategy, Compass is fundamentally changing how agents and clients navigate the process of finding or selling a home.

SOURCE Compass