The Proptech sector is evolving rapidly as companies introduce innovative solutions to improve how properties are bought, sold, managed, and experienced. To stay competitive, many firms are embracing rebranding as a strategic move to reflect their growth and adaptation in the industry. Let’s explore why proptech companies rebrand and look at some successful examples.
Why Proptech Companies Choose to Rebrand
Expanding Service Offerings: Many companies begin with a specific niche and choose names that reflect it, but as they grow and introduce new services, their original names can become too limiting. Rebranding signals their evolution and helps attract a wider audience.
Strengthening Digital Presence: In an industry driven by technology, an outdated or ineffective brand identity can hinder a company’s ability to connect with digital-first users. Rebranding allows companies to modernise their image, making them more appealing to consumers and real estate professionals who prioritise seamless, user-friendly experiences.
Shortening and Simplifying Names: Many companies, at some stage in their growth, decide to simplify their names. A shorter name reduces typing errors and removes limitations, making it easier for customers to find, remember, and engage with the brand.
Legal Reasons: Companies may rebrand when their name is too similar to an existing business, leading to trademark disputes, legal challenges, or brand confusion. In such cases, rebranding provides an opportunity to establish a distinct identity that aligns with the company’s long-term vision and market positioning while avoiding legal conflicts.
Global Expansion: A name tied to a specific region may resonate locally but can limit growth in international markets. Rebranding to a more universal name removes geographic constraints, making it easier to scale, attract a broader audience, and build a strong global brand presence.
Securing the Right Domain: Many startups launch with compromise domain names, using extra words, hyphens, or alternate extensions when their Exact Brand Match (EBM) domain is unavailable or out of budget. This can create brand confusion, lost traffic, and marketing inefficiencies, limiting growth and credibility. As they expand, companies often rebrand to secure an EBM domain, strengthening their online presence, brand recognition, and user experience.
Rebranding After Mergers, Acquisitions, or Business Shifts: When companies merge, get acquired, or change their focus, rebranding helps create a unified identity that reflects their new direction.
Rebrands in the Proptech Industry
Perch – Orchard
In 2020, the home-buying marketplace Perch rebranded as Orchard, a move that reflected the company’s evolution and expanded suite of services. Initially launched as a platform focused on helping homeowners buy and sell more efficiently, the company’s offerings had grown beyond its original scope, making the name Orchard a better fit for its long-term vision.
Orchard is now one of the only companies in the country to deliver a delightful end-to-end home buying experience including AI-driven home discovery, the ability to buy before you sell, and an all-digital closing. As our customer offering has evolved, we took the opportunity to rethink our name and choose a brand that reflects the things our customers tell us they love about us: warmth, friendliness, and humanity
Court Cunningham, Co-Founder and CEO at Orchard
As part of the rebrand, Orchard acquired the domain Orchard.com. Dictionary-word .com domains are highly valuable because they are easily recognisable globally, memorable, and convey authority.
Guaranteed Rate – Rate
In July 2024, Guaranteed Rate, a leading mortgage lender in the United States, rebranded to Rate, reflecting its evolution and commitment to simplifying the mortgage process.
The company has owned Rate.com since 2016, a strategic decision to enhance accessibility for customers. The shorter domain eliminates the need to type “Guaranteed,” which was often prone to errors, making it easier for users to find and interact with the brand online.
Now, with 70% fewer keystrokes, you can help your customers find low, low rates and their ideal mortgage product faster than ever. Emails between you and loan officers will be more efficient. Referrals to the website will be quicker and less prone to typing errors. Gone are the days of spelling out ‘guaranteed’ (that second ‘a’ was always tricky, right?). Rate.com is a HUGE improvement that we are happy to share with you, because anything we can do to make your lives easier is our #1 priority.
Rate.com
Urban Compass – Compass
Compass is a technology-driven real estate platform for buying, renting, and selling real estate assets. Originally founded as Urban Compass, the company rebranded to Compass in 2015 to reflect its expansion beyond urban markets and establish a broader national presence.
Compass is a simpler, more universally memorable brand name that speaks directly to the connection between people and technology that is so central to what we are building.
Matt Spangler, Head of Marketing and Creative at Compass
As part of the rebrand, the company also moved from UrbanCompass.com to Compass.com, securing a strategic-grade domain that enhances brand clarity, credibility, and accessibility. Dictionary-word .com domains are valuable assets, providing long-term recognition and a competitive advantage in the market.
AirBed & Breakfast – Airbnb
Airbnb, a global leader in short- and long-term homestays, began in 2007 when Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky rented out their living room with air mattresses to help cover rent. Originally named AirBed & Breakfast, the company launched in 2008. In March 2009, the company shortened its name to Airbnb to reflect its expanded offerings beyond air mattresses, as listings grew to include entire homes and properties.
Since its founding, Airbnb has used the global .com extension, reinforcing its international appeal and accessibility. After shortening its name from AirBed & Breakfast to Airbnb, the company transitioned to Airbnb.com. Today, Airbnb owns over 9,500 domain names.
OJO Canada – Houseful
Real estate platform Houseful launched in 2021 as OJO Canada, a partnership between RBCx, the innovation and venture arm of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and OJO Labs. After being acquired by RBC in 2023, the company rebranded to Houseful.
When it comes to home ownership, we believe in helping anyone fulfil their potential. And we’re starting with ourselves. We’re thinking bigger, so our consumers can too. That’s why we’re excited to announce that OJO is becoming Houseful. This change reflects our ambition to create a first-of-its kind home ownership platform to provide tools, resources and expertise that will support a lifetime of Canadian homeowner needs.
Houseful’s team
Houseful has invested in both Houseful.ca and Houseful.com, ensuring a strong digital presence and accessibility for users.
SuperHost – Guesty
Guesty is a property management software that helps property managers manage short-term rentals listed across platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com. Originally founded as SuperHost, the company rebranded to Guesty in 2014.
As part of its rebrand, Guesty secured its Exact Brand Match (EBM) domain, Guesty.com. A short and memorable .com domain enhances brand recognition, credibility, and accessibility in the digital space.
Chime Technologies – Lofty
Lofty provides an AI-based platform that helps real estate professionals increase their productivity and accelerate business growth. Originally launched as Chime Technologies, the company rebranded to Lofty in 2023 to reflect its growth and ongoing commitment to providing practical AI-powered innovations for the modern real estate professional.
As the real estate industry continues to change rapidly, we have expanded our vision to best meet the evolving needs of our customers, helping them navigate and prosper in a world that will be driven by AI. We want our brand to inspire customers to believe in their future success and set ‘lofty’ goals for their business. Our clients can continue to expect the same high level of product innovation and commitment to addressing their business needs through the practical application of AI technology.
Joe Chen, CEO of Lofty
The company used the domain name Chime.me before the rebrand, while Chime.com leads to another company with the same name. This can lead to traffic and email leaks, customer confusion, and ineffective advertising. While country-code domains are often more affordable, they come with risks like limited global reach and reduced brand recognition. For its new identity, Lofty secured its EBM domain, Lofty.com, the natural choice for finding the company online.
Doormat – Ownright
Doormat, a Canada-based law service company for real estate transactions, rebranded to Ownright in March 2025. The new name reflects its evolution to become Ontario’s most trusted and efficient real estate legal service.
As you enter someone’s home, their doormat is one of the first things you notice. Oftentimes, doormats feature a warm greeting or welcome — setting the tone for first impressions. A doormat is where the journey begins. But we’re not just here to stand at the door, we’re here to help you own your path to home ownership. And with that, we’re pleased to announce that Doormat has rebranded to Ownright. With us, home ownership feels right.
Ownright
Before the rebrand, the company used a .ca domain extension, the country code for Canada. While suitable for local reach, a regional domain can pose limitations when expanding internationally. For its new identity, the company secured the Exact Brand Match (EBM) domain Ownright.com, ensuring a more seamless experience, greater accessibility, and broader global appeal.
Propify – Propexo
Propexo is a company offering a unified API for seamless integration with leading property management systems. Originally founded as Propify, the company rebranded to Propexo after its name created confusion with another proptech company with prior rights to the name.
Over time, it has come to our attention that our previous name, “Propify,” has confused some because it is identical to that of another company in the proptech space with prior rights to the name. To ensure clarity and continue providing you with the exceptional products/services you know and trust, we have decided to rebrand as “Propexo.”
Propexo
As part of the rebrand, Propexo secured the EBM domain Propexo.com, ensuring a seamless transition and reinforcing its brand strength and credibility.
Peach Street – Valon
Peach Street, a tech-enabled residential mortgage servicer, rebranded to Valon, choosing a shorter and more distinctive name.
Valon is a personal name of Albanian origin, meaning “wave”. Our recent study highlights the advantages of personal names as brand names, including fostering trust, creating a closer connection with customers, and enhancing authenticity and distinctiveness.
Along with the rebrand, the company moved to the shorter, more memorable domain, Valon.com.
RentPath – Rent
According to Wikipedia data, Rent.com was originally founded as Viva.com in 1999. In December 2004, eBay acquired Rent.com for $415 million. On May 8, 2012, RentPath, then known as Primedia, purchased Rent.com from eBay for approximately $415 million.
On April 9, 2021, Rent.com and its parent company, RentPath, were acquired by real estate company Redfin.
In 2022, RentPath rebranded to Rent to align with its flagship site, Rent.com. The company stated that the rebrand highlights new products and service enhancements, reflecting Rent’s evolution and focus on innovation in the real estate market.
This is the company’s most significant evolution in a nearly 50-year history of serving the rental industry. This is much more than a name change. It is the outward signal of our evolution from an advertising company to a technology and software driven company.
Jon Ziglar, CEO of Rent
Rent.com is a strategic-grade domain, offering instant credibility, strong brand recognition, and high market value in the real estate industry. As a short, dictionary-word .com domain, it is intuitive, globally recognisable, and easy to remember, making it a powerful asset for driving organic traffic and reinforcing brand authority.
View The Space – VTS
VTS is a leading commercial real estate (CRE) technology platform that unifies owners, operators, brokers, and tenants, streamlining leasing, asset management, marketing, and tenant experiences to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency. Initially operating as View The Space, the company later shortened its name to VTS and secured the domain VTS.com.
Three-letter .com domains are highly prized for their rarity, value, and versatility, often serving as acronyms for longer company names. With all 17,576 possible combinations already taken among over 150 million registered .com domains, securing one signifies prestige, credibility, and a long-term vision for growth and brand recognition.
Flat.mx – Clau
Clau is a Mexican real estate superapp that integrates a property marketplace, CRM for brokers, financial services, and data analytics to streamline residential transactions. In 2024, the company rebranded from Flat.mx to Clau to align with its evolving vision and market positioning.
We want that when a person is looking to buy or sell a property, we are the first option that comes to mind. Therefore, we will continue to invest in technology, constantly improving our platform and expanding our range of services to ensure that our users have the best technological tools and thus exceed their expectations.
co-founder Victor Noguera for Online Marketplaces
Before rebranding, the company used a .mx domain, the country code for Mexico. While effective locally, expanding internationally can be challenging with a regional extension. Now, it operates under the EBM domain Clau.com, ensuring brand consistency, improved accessibility, and global recognition.
Lessons for Proptech Entrepreneurs
Choose a Scalable Name: Select a name that reflects your current services while allowing for future expansion. A flexible brand name prevents the need for rebranding as your business evolves.
Ensure Global Accessibility: Avoid industry-specific or location-based names that could limit international growth. A globally recognisable name helps expand your reach and enhances brand consistency across different markets.
Keep It Simple and Memorable: A short, clear name is easier for customers to remember, spell, and search for online. Avoid long or complicated names that can confuse potential users or weaken your brand’s impact.
Secure Legal and Trademark Protection: Before choosing a brand name, verify its legal availability to avoid trademark conflicts. Conduct thorough research or consult legal experts to prevent future disputes.
Invest in the Right Domain: An Exact Brand Match (EBM) domain is the most intuitive choice for your customers, business partners, and investors when searching for your brand online. If your brand is called Example, most people will naturally assume they can find you at Example.com. Failing to secure your EBM domain can lead to missed opportunities, lost traffic, and potential brand confusion – especially if someone else owns it.
While a great domain won’t fix a bad product, it gives the company full brand autonomy, ensuring control over its online presence, customer experience, and long-term scalability. Settling for a compromise domain might seem like a cost-saving decision, but it often results in greater expenses down the line – whether through lost customers, rebranding costs, or the high price of acquiring the domain later. Investing in the right domain from the start ensures long-term stability and brand protection.
Is It Time for a Rebrand?
Your brand name plays a key role in credibility, recognition, and long-term growth. If it no longer aligns with your services, hinders expansion, or fails to connect with your audience, a rebrand might be the right step.
Not sure if it’s the right move? The article Thinking of Rebranding Your Business? 12 Signs That It’s Time explores common reasons companies rebrand, from outdated identities to shifting market strategies, helping you determine if a name change is the right step for your business.
The right domain name is an important consideration when it comes to building and protecting your brand. If you’re ready to take the next step and invest in a perfect domain name for your business, contact us to learn more about our available options and how we can help you get started.
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