"Any agent that is currently using AI effectively will benefit from it in three to five years." Biju Ashokan, CEO of prop tech business, expects that if they sell 10 homes annually, they will likely sell 30 to 40 properties annually.
Independent brokerages are using artificial intelligence to get a competitive edge in the real estate market, which is going through its most difficult time in almost thirty years. According to Ashokan, the first quarter of 2025 showed "the lowest in the last 28 years." Not only does the technology help them survive, but it also puts them in a position to prosper when the market recovers.
The Self-Sustained Benefit
Ashokan has firsthand knowledge of the difficulties independent brokerages encounter. He realized that it wasn't financially feasible to develop proprietary AI tools, lead nurturing systems, and transaction management technologies for just 50 agents while serving as the previous CEO of a small brokerage that expanded "from zero to 50 agents quite quickly."
Ashokan says, "We were profitable, but it wasn't enough to fund the engineering aspects of products." After coming to this insight, he left his first business, which was created especially to provide enterprise-level technology to independent brokerages.
The timing is deliberate. The conventional brokerage model needs to show more value, as Ashokan notes: "Why does a brokerage exist? Why would you pay a commission to a brokerage when purchasing and selling real estate? The majority of the work is being done for you by the agents.
His argument is not that brokerages are superfluous, but rather that they need to provide additional value to support their commission split, which is exactly where technology enters the picture. It gives brokerages the technology foundation they need to provide their agents with genuine value, enabling them to function more efficiently while defending the commission structure—a paradigm that is drawing in progressive real estate professionals.
Introducing Mel: The AI Helper Improving Customer Experiences
Mel, a very advanced AI assistant created especially for real estate professionals, is the centerpiece of product line. Mel improves client satisfaction while streamlining agent activities as a proactive and reactive tool.
Ashokan says, "It is our AI assistant, and it is both proactive and reactive." It provides you with information on real estate when you ask Mel questions. We've trained it using every piece of real estate data and documentation.
Mel does more than just respond to inquiries. In order to develop a thorough grasp of the preferences of its users, the system examines their activity, including what properties they visit, how long they spend looking at listings, whose homes they favor, and the content of their messages. Compared to typical agent-only interactions, this allows for more individualized property recommendations and quicker, better-informed responses.