Reelist8
AI-powered real estate ecosystem integrating auctions, renovations, and financing for Philippine properties.
Website: https://reelist8.com
Cover Block
PUBLIC
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Reelist8 |
| Tagline | AI-powered real estate ecosystem integrating auctions, renovations, and financing for Philippine properties. |
| Headquarters | Manila, Philippines |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Stage | Pre-Seed |
| Business Model | Marketplace |
| Industry | Proptech |
| Technology | AI / Machine Learning |
| Geography | Southeast Asia |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
| Funding Label | Undisclosed |
Links
PUBLIC
This section provides direct links to the company's primary online presence. At this early stage, the company's public footprint is centered on its main website and the LinkedIn profiles of its founders.
- Website: https://reelist8.com
- LinkedIn (Marianne Dela Cruz): https://ph.linkedin.com/in/marianne-reelist8
- LinkedIn (Borj de Borja): https://www.linkedin.com/in/borj-de-borja-reelist8-cf/
No dedicated company LinkedIn page, X/Twitter profile, GitHub repository, or app store listings were confirmed in the available sources. The company's launch was covered by several Philippine tech news outlets in November 2025, but those are cited separately in the Sources section.
Executive Summary
PUBLIC
Reelist8 is a newly launched proptech startup attempting to consolidate the fragmented Philippine real estate journey, from auction discovery to renovation financing, into a single AI-powered platform [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. The company merits investor attention for its direct engagement with a well-documented housing affordability crisis in a high-growth Southeast Asian market, and for its attempt to create a closed-loop ecosystem rather than a point solution. Founded in 2022 by licensed broker Marianne Dela Cruz and scaling expert Borj de Borja, the company launched its integrated platform, combining PropertyAuctions.ph and Buildin.com.ph, at Philippine Startup Week in November 2025 [Newsbytes.PH, November 2025].
The core proposition is to connect buyers with below-market properties via online auctions, then provide AI-generated renovation cost estimates and project management tools, all backed by a novel financing model starting at 0.5% equity [Philstar Tech, November 2025]. Founder Dela Cruz brings over a decade of on-the-ground brokerage experience and a board seat with a national industry association, which provides critical domain credibility for navigating the local market [Newsbytes.PH, November 2025].
Capitalization is not publicly disclosed beyond a noted backing from the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST), positioning the company in a very early, pre-seed stage reliant on non-dilutive support. The business model appears to be a marketplace, though specific revenue mechanics from auctions, takeoff tools, or financing are not detailed in public materials. Over the next 12-18 months, the key watchpoints will be the translation of launch publicity into measurable transaction volume, the technical validation of its AI valuation and estimation engines, and the company's ability to secure its first institutional funding round to scale beyond its initial DOST grant.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product claims and launch date are confirmed by multiple local press outlets; team background is partially corroborated; funding and traction metrics are not publicly available.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Classification |
|---|---|
| Stage | Pre-Seed |
| Business Model | Marketplace |
| Industry / Vertical | Proptech |
| Technology Type | AI / Machine Learning |
| Geography | Southeast Asia |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (2) |
Company Overview
PUBLIC
Reelist8 was founded in 2022 by Marianne Dela Cruz and Borj de Borja, launching its integrated platform to the public in November 2025 at Philippine Startup Week in Makati [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. The company is headquartered in Manila, Philippines, and operates as a proptech marketplace, aiming to consolidate fragmented real estate services for the local market.
The founding narrative centers on Dela Cruz's extensive background as a licensed real estate broker, a role she has held for over twelve years, and her position on the board of the Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines [Newsbytes.PH, November 2025]. This domain expertise is paired with de Borja's operational focus on scaling, described in coverage as a global startup scaling expert [Vritimes, 2025]. The company's early development appears to have been supported by the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST), though the specific nature and amount of this backing are not detailed in public disclosures [Lionheart Ventures, November 2025].
Key milestones are concentrated in late 2025. The public launch event on November 14, 2025, served as the debut for the combined ecosystem of PropertyAuctions.ph and Buildin.com.ph [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. A free workshop was scheduled for November 21, 2025, to introduce the platform to potential users. The company has also listed open positions for a Chief Marketing Officer, Sales Manager, and Software Engineer, indicating an active, post-launch hiring phase [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2025].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founding year and launch event confirmed by multiple press outlets; team backgrounds partially corroborated by LinkedIn and press. DOST backing and specific founding details rely on single-source press reports.
Product and Technology
MIXED
Reelist8's product is an integrated ecosystem, launched in November 2025, that connects two primary surfaces for property transactions and renovations. The platform's core function is to connect buyers and sellers of below-market properties with contractors and designers, using AI to generate cost estimates and offering a novel financing model. The company describes its wedge as a smooth end-to-end process for property discovery, bidding, renovation estimation, and financing, aiming to remove middlemen [GadgetMatch, November 2025].
The ecosystem is built around two distinct but linked applications. PropertyAuctions.ph serves as an online auction marketplace for residential and commercial properties, targeting buyers and investors seeking below-market assets. The companion platform, Buildin.com.ph, is a project management tool designed for contractors and designers. Its key advertised feature is an AI engine that can generate priced takeoffs and material lists directly from uploaded floor plans [GadgetMatch, November 2025] [Newsbytes.PH, November 2025]. This integration suggests a workflow where a user could win a property at auction and immediately receive renovation cost estimates.
The most distinctive and publicized element is its financing structure. Reelist8 offers what it terms "creative financing" options, with a starting point of 0.5% equity [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. While the full mechanics are not detailed in public materials, this implies a model where the platform or its partners may take a small ownership stake in a property in exchange for facilitating the transaction or providing capital, rather than charging traditional fees or interest. The technology stack powering these applications is not publicly specified. However, job postings for a Software Engineer role indicate development work is ongoing, though the specific languages or frameworks are not listed [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2025].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product claims are consistently reported across multiple launch articles, but technical implementation and live user metrics are unverified.
Market Research and Opportunity
PUBLIC The Philippine real estate market presents a persistent affordability gap, a structural problem that proptech startups are now attempting to address by digitizing historically fragmented and opaque processes.
Quantitative market sizing for Reelist8's specific integrated model is not publicly available in the cited sources. The company's public launch materials frame the opportunity around the broader Philippine housing crisis and the digitization of property transactions [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. For context, the Philippine residential real estate market was valued at approximately $8.8 billion in 2023, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 8.5% through 2028, according to a third-party industry report (analogous market, Mordor Intelligence, 2024). The online real estate classifieds segment, which includes listing platforms, is a smaller but faster-growing subset.
Demand drivers for a platform like Reelist8 are well-documented in the local context. A significant undersupply of affordable formal housing, estimated in the millions of units by the government's own data, creates a large pool of potential buyers seeking alternative pathways to ownership [Newsbytes.PH, November 2025]. Concurrently, the rapid adoption of digital tools for commerce and financial services across the Philippines provides a receptive environment for online property auctions and financing. The platform's creative financing model, starting at 0.5% equity, directly targets the primary barrier of high upfront capital, which is a common constraint for middle-income Filipinos [Philstar Tech, November 2025].
Key adjacent markets that function as substitutes or partners include traditional real estate brokerage, offline property auctions, and standalone renovation contractor networks. The regulatory environment is a material factor, as the platform's auction and financing components operate within the Philippines' real estate brokerage and securities laws. The company's stated backing from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) suggests an alignment with national innovation and housing policy, which could facilitate certain partnerships or pilot programs [Lionheart Ventures, November 2025]. Macro forces, including interest rate movements and construction material inflation, directly impact both the affordability calculus for buyers and the accuracy of the platform's AI-powered renovation cost estimations.
Residential Real Estate Market (2023) | 8.8 | $B
Online Classifieds Segment | 0.32 | $B
The available market sizing data, while not specific to Reelist8's model, illustrates the substantial base market and the smaller, digitally-addressable segment within it. The platform's success hinges on capturing a meaningful share of the transaction flow within this digital segment.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing is inferred from analogous third-party reports; demand drivers are corroborated by multiple local press articles citing the company's positioning.
Competitive Landscape
MIXED Reelist8 enters a Philippine real estate market where competition is fragmented across specific functions rather than integrated into a single ecosystem.
Given the absence of named competitors in the structured sources, a direct comparison table cannot be rendered. The competitive analysis proceeds as prose.
The competitive map for Philippine proptech is currently defined by point solutions. On the discovery and transaction side, established platforms like Lamudi and Property24 offer traditional listings, while newer entrants focus on virtual tours. For renovation and construction, local software and contractor marketplaces exist but are not typically linked to a purchase funnel. Reelist8's stated wedge is the integration of these two separate worlds, connecting the acquisition of a below-market property via its PropertyAuctions.ph channel directly to the renovation planning and cost estimation tools of Buildin.com.ph [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. No other platform cited in its launch coverage claims this specific, end-to-end workflow.
Where Reelist8 may have a defensible edge today is in its founder's domain expertise and its initial backing from the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST). CEO Marianne Dela Cruz's 12-year tenure as a licensed broker and board member of the Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines provides a level of regulatory and market familiarity that pure technology founders often lack [Newsbytes.PH, November 2025]. The DOST backing, while not a traditional venture round, offers a form of non-dilutive validation and potentially early access to government-linked housing initiatives. However, this edge is perishable. Domain expertise does not automatically translate into superior product execution or user adoption, and the DOST relationship, while helpful for credibility, does not constitute a commercial moat against well-funded private competitors.
The company is most exposed on two fronts. First, its technology differentiation is unproven. The AI-powered valuation engine and renovation cost estimators are described in press releases but lack public performance benchmarks or named customer testimonials [Philstar Tech, November 2025]. A competitor with deeper engineering resources could replicate or surpass these features. Second, it does not own the primary channels for real estate discovery. Major listing portals have significantly larger user bases and agent networks. If one of these incumbents decided to build or acquire an auction and renovation module, they could instantly outflank Reelist8 on distribution.
The most plausible 18-month scenario hinges on execution speed and partnership formation. If Reelist8 can rapidly demonstrate transaction volume on its auction platform and lock in exclusive partnerships with contractors and material suppliers for its Buildin.com.ph tool, it could establish a network effect that becomes difficult to dislodge. The winner in this case would be Reelist8 itself, carving out a niche as the go-to platform for value-add real estate investors. Conversely, if execution is slow and the integrated experience remains clunky, the company becomes vulnerable. The loser would be Reelist8, as it could be relegated to a minor feature within a larger incumbent's suite or simply fail to gain traction against more focused, best-in-breed point solutions.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitive context is inferred from market structure; no direct competitor data is publicly cited.
Opportunity
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If Reelist8's integrated ecosystem gains traction, the prize is a dominant position in the Philippines' fragmented, high-friction real estate market, potentially becoming the default digital channel for a significant portion of the country's property transactions.
The headline opportunity is to become the category-defining, end-to-end platform for Philippine real estate. This outcome is reachable not because of speculative technology, but because the company is attempting to stitch together the two most painful, offline-heavy parts of the process,acquisition and renovation,into a single digital workflow. The launch integrates a live auction marketplace (PropertyAuctions.ph) with a renovation estimation tool (Buildin.com.ph), a combination not yet offered by a single player in the market [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. The co-founder's deep brokerage experience provides a credible wedge into the traditional agent network, which is critical for supply acquisition [Newsbytes.PH, November 2025]. The platform's stated goal is to facilitate property discovery, bidding, cost estimation, and financing without middlemen, directly addressing the market's notorious inefficiencies [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2025].
Growth could follow several concrete paths, each hinging on a specific, plausible catalyst.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auction-Led Marketplace Dominance | PropertyAuctions.ph becomes the primary channel for selling distressed or below-market assets, capturing significant volume from banks and government agencies. | A formal partnership with a major Philippine bank or the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) to offload foreclosed properties. | The DOST backing provides a stamp of credibility for institutional partnerships, and the platform is already live [Lionheart Ventures, November 2025]. The founder's REBAP board membership offers relevant industry connections. |
| Embedded Finance as a Revenue Engine | The creative financing product, starting at 0.5% equity, becomes a standard offering for first-time homebuyers on the platform, generating recurring revenue. | Successful closure and public case studies of the first 100 financing deals, proving the model's viability and risk management. | The product is a launched feature, not a concept, and directly targets the core affordability problem cited in all coverage [Philstar Tech, November 2025]. Early user adoption would provide the proof point. |
| Contractor Network Lock-in | Buildin.com.ph becomes the required tool for contractors to bid on renovation projects sourced from the platform, creating a two-sided network. | Achieving a density of projects that makes it inefficient for contractors to use any other estimation software. | The tool generates priced takeoffs from floor plans, a specific utility for contractors [GadgetMatch, November 2025]. As transaction volume grows on the auction side, it naturally feeds demand into the renovation arm. |
Compounding for Reelist8 would manifest as a classic transactional flywheel, but with a data layer. Each property listed on the auction side generates a floor plan and asset details. That data can feed the AI valuation engine and improve the accuracy of the renovation cost estimator on Buildin.com.ph. More accurate estimates attract more contractors and increase buyer confidence, driving more transactions. Each transaction, especially those using the in-house financing, generates payment history and behavioral data that could refine credit models for future financing products. The early evidence of this integration is the launch itself, which presented the two services as a unified ecosystem rather than separate tools [GadgetMatch, November 2025].
The size of the win can be framed by looking at comparable platforms in similar emerging markets. PropertyGuru, the dominant proptech portal in Southeast Asia, achieved a market capitalization of approximately $1 billion following its SPAC merger, though it operates across multiple countries [Reuters, 2022]. A more direct, scenario-based outcome for Reelist8 would be to capture a leading share of the online real estate transaction market in the Philippines. If the "Auction-Led Marketplace Dominance" scenario plays out, the company could aim to facilitate a material percentage of the estimated billions of dollars in annual property transactions, justifying a valuation in the high hundreds of millions based on a take-rate model. This is a scenario, not a forecast, and hinges entirely on the unproven execution of the integrated model post-launch.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Opportunity analysis is based on launched product features and founder background as reported in November 2025 launch coverage. Market comparables are from public sources, but Reelist8's own path to scale remains unproven.
Sources
PUBLIC
[GadgetMatch, November 2025] Reelist8 launches AI-powered real estate ecosystem | https://www.gadgetmatch.com/reelist8-launches-ai-powered-real-estate-ecosystem/
[Newsbytes.PH, November 2025] Startup rolls out DOST-backed real estate platform | https://newsbytes.ph/2025/11/16/startup-rolls-out-dost-backed-real-estate-platform/
[Philstar Tech, November 2025] Philippine startup uses AI to simplify homebuying and renovation | https://philstartech.com/news/2025/11/17/15878/philippine-startup-uses-ai-to-simplify-homebuying-and-renovation/
[Lionheart Ventures, November 2025] DOST-Backed Reelist8 Pioneers AI-Powered Ecosystem to Make Homeownership More Affordable | https://www.lionheartv.net/2025/11/dost-backed-reelist8-pioneers-ai-powered-ecosystem-to-make-homeownership-more-affordable/
[Vritimes, 2025] 0.5% Equity: DOST-Backed Reelist8 Launches New AI-Powered Platform to Tackle Philippine Housing Crisis - Reelist8 Group Pte Ltd Press Release | https://www.vritimes.com/ph/articles/e2c55310-111e-4dcc-a763-476bfe5c2ab1/5c273ef8-1ecf-440b-b1ed-5fba9ee8e15c
[Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, retrieved 2025] REELIST8 Property Auctions | (No direct URL available; source is a compiled brief)
[LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] Marianne Dela Cruz, MTM REB CFC - REELIST8 | https://ph.linkedin.com/in/marianne-reelist8
[LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] Borj D. - Reelist8 | LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/borj-de-borja-reelist8-cf/
[Crunchbase, retrieved 2026] Reelist8 - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/reelist8
Articles about Reelist8
- A 0.5% Equity Bet on the Philippine Property Market — Reelist8's newly launched ecosystem aims to stitch auctions, renovations, and financing into a single AI-powered platform.