The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced that Tether RE won the sixth annual Pitch Battle competition at the 2024 Innovation, Opportunity & Investment (iOi) Summit.

NAR’s strategic investment arm, Second Century Ventures, presented this year’s Pitch Battle in Chicago, where participating companies demonstrated their tools and resources designed for the commercial and residential real estate markets.

Tether RE received the grand prize. The platform combines safety features with productivity tools, ensuring agents are protected from initial contact to closing while streamlining their day-to-day tasks.

“This year’s Pitch Battle showcased exceptional innovations that are setting new benchmarks in the real estate sector,” Dan Weisman, NAR director of innovation strategy, said. “The ingenuity displayed by Tether RE represents the progressive strides we support at the iOi Summit and NAR’s ongoing efforts to enhance the services provided to real estate professionals and consumers alike. We congratulate Tether RE on their outstanding achievement.”

Tether RE co-founder Vanessa Martin began the winning pitch by highlighting the need for enhanced security measures within the real estate industry.

“Last year alone, 30,000 real estate agents were victims of violent crimes,” she said. 

Martin explained Tether RE’s features, including 24-hour safety monitoring, client verification, SOS alerts, proximity safety timers, and fall and crash alerts. The platform also enhances agent productivity by integrating tools such as turn-by-turn navigation, automatic mileage and expense tracking, and personalized agent branding.

“We are proud of the platform we’ve created, and we know it will help agents when they need it most,” Martin said. “It’s time to focus on what matters, because the most important part of any deal is making it home safely.”  

Tether RE will be awarded $15,000 and a booth at NAR’s annual conference in November (NAR NXT).

The Pitch Battle’s Crowd Favorite, as voted on by the in-person and virtual audience, was awarded to Tuesday, a social Multiple Listing Service (MLS) app built exclusively for agents.

Tuesday CEO Coleton Boyer illustrated how the company’s mobile-first approach has streamlined real estate market intelligence into a user-friendly social feed.

“It’s the energy of your Tuesday meeting, the ease of your Instagram feed and the exact same data you get on the MLS,” Boyer said.