Four industry veterans have zeroed in on a new proptech solution to help property management teams better communicate and collaborate internally. Synco has exited stealth mode with the commercial launch of a team messaging and collaboration platform specifically for property managers.

Synco was established by Jason Griffith and Ross Goldenberg, who co-founded SiteCompli, and Bill Evick and John Bonds, who co-founded Aptexx. The four met after selling their proptech companies to Inhabit, a collective of property management software companies backed by Insight Venture Partners and Goldman Sachs.

In 2019, after exiting the companies they founded, the four collaborated on an industry-specific problem proptech could solve.

“With Aptexx and SiteCompli, we saw firsthand how property management teams struggle to communicate internally—using disjointed email chains and siloed text threads—and how it affects their productivity and morale,” said Griffith. “There was such a stark difference between property management teams and the rest of the business world when it comes to communicating and sharing information internally. At the same time, it’s impossible to improve operational efficiency at your properties if your teams don’t have a unified way to communicate seamlessly.”

After the founders spent a year talking with property management companies about the idea, they said a common theme emerged: The volume of decentralized email and text messages slows down problem-solving, but those message options have been the only way to get visibility into what’s happening across properties.

“Constant follow-ups from higher-ups asking ‘where are we on this?’ and overflowing inboxes cause real frustration and lost productivity. The need for transparency has never been greater, yet it’s so difficult just to find the right information, get answers, and give input in real-time across a distributed team,” said Evick. “We validated these assumptions with their challenges in mind.”

Messages sent via Synco’s desktop or mobile app can be organized by property, project, urgency, and more to help on-site teams and corporate departments collaborate better. Users also can choose which conversations they’re notified of immediately and which ones they can drop in on to see what’s going on. According to Synco, the goal is take the guesswork out of who to copy on a message, eliminate miscommunication, and help employees solve problems faster.

A $5.5 million fundraising round was built around a coalition of investors across the property management ecosystem, including:

  • Over 20 multifamily owners, managers, developers and their key executives, such as L+M Development Partners, LeFrak, C&C Property Management, and Urban American;
  • Industry insiders such as Caren Maio and Adam Pittenger of Moved as well as other proptech SaaS executives and service/trade vendors; and
  • Proptech venture capital firm MetaProp.

“With Synco, property management executives get more visibility without being cc’d on every email and avoid inbox overload with more control over conversation notifications,” said Evick. “On-site teams get a better way to collaborate with HQ and get the information they need to solve problems and deliver a great resident experience.”