An Interview with Luke Liplijn about Matrixian’s Data-Driven Real Estate Services
The data-driven real estate services of Matrixian are seen as a promising Dutch ‘unicorn’. as they are doing very well. Investors, property owners, real estate agents, municipalities, and various government services across 42 countries rely on the treasure trove of data that Matrixian generates and combines with AI, enabling them to make well-informed decisions. Let’s dive deeper into the story of its founder Luke Liplijn.
The conversation takes place in Dubai, where his wife works as a pediatric dentist, and they are expecting their child. Remote work is going well with the current technology: Liplijn smoothly commutes between the Gulf state and his headquarters in Amsterdam, where 40 colleagues work. Interestingly, more parties do business with Matrixian than they often realize. Liplijn believes that the power of data-driven property valuation he offers and the numerous possibilities of available information should be more widely known, so that’s the goal. Liplijn is a typical ‘digital native,’ a young man who became active in real estate management during his studies in Architecture in Tilburg. He developed a program called ‘know your customer’ to assess whether (prospective) tenants were reputable. “It made headlines and led to parliamentary questions, quite spectacular as a student,” recalls Liplijn. “It was the starting point for what I’m doing now.” He sold his student project in 2010 and further specialized in scoring and rating systems to help customers “enhance their marketing.” In 2016, he founded Matrixian. Journalist and moderator Ronnie Overgoor recently referred to Liplijn’s company as the “Google of real estate” on the video platform 7DTV.
What is the core of your activities?
“We are a data and AI-driven company with extensive knowledge about the real estate sector and its target groups and partners, especially in the field of property valuation. This includes online appraisal and desktop appraisal. At the moment, we have every square centimeter of Dutch real estate in our database. Think of 2D-level information about neighborhood facilities, all posted property advertisements, and all land registry transactions since 1995. Think of 3D-level data showing how everything looks. Our database is linked to prediction models for appraisals and numerous other data-driven decisions, such as in potential project development.”
Why do you want Matrixian to become more well-known now?
“We pride ourselves on three unique selling points (USPs). Firstly, our international AVM (Automated Valuation Model) operates in 42 countries, enabling global property valuation. Secondly, we are involved in 75% of all Dutch property transactions, as our services are deeply integrated into numerous systems and platforms – a fact not many people know. And thirdly, we offer exceptionally flexible data delivery options, which deserve more attention as they’re very convenient for a large number of customers. We provide data via APIs for larger companies, through batch files for smaller entrepreneurs, via our user-friendly SaaS platform for those who want to do it themselves, and via our very own mapping system for those who want data visualizations.”
Who are your current customers?
“Banks use our model values to calculate collateral. Real estate agents and appraisers use our services to support their own property valuations and client conversations. Municipalities are customers to determine property values for the WOZ (Value on Immovable Property Act). Insurers use our data to understand what they insure. Additionally, with our new Desktop Valuation Service, compliant with the European Banking Association’s regulations and accepted by lenders, we also expect an influx of individuals for an automated valuation report, which used to cost 750 euros and now only costs 90 euros. A real bonus for consumers. What makes us unique is that a wealth of international data sources comes together in our company, and as an independent IT company, we combine, model, and transform it into valuable information services. Give us a try!”
Finally, can you tell us about the five key themes that define Matrixian’s focus?
“Certainly. Firstly, there’s ‘property valuation’, which represents our data-driven real estate valuation services. Many municipalities, appraisers, and institutional investors use this. Secondly, our ‘property marketing’ tools help real estate agents to generate new listings and leads, ultimately boosting their revenue. We do this for hundreds of real estate agencies. Thirdly, our ‘automation’ services help various parties to optimize their processes by enriching and cleaning up their data. Fourthly, ‘portfolio insights’ is mainly for housing corporations and larger private investors. The question here isn’t just about the value of a single property, but rather: how can I increase the value of my real estate portfolio? And what are the risks? Lastly, ‘sustainability’ aligns with the growing interest in the environmental impact of properties and ESGs (Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria). For example, we identify the sustainability opportunities on roofs: by integrating and modeling housing and environmental datasets we calculate for every roof what the optimal sustainable roof implementation would be for a complete city or municipality. This mainly attracts governments and housing corporations.”
About Matrixian
With the help of data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Matrixian makes the real estate sector reliable and efficient. By digitalizing every aspect of real estate and integrating all systems and data sources, Matrixian empowers customers to optimize property valuation, marketing, and sustainability efforts. Additionally, their data-driven solutions enable customers to efficiently manage real estate portfolios and streamline processes, resulting in sustainable returns.
