An online platform with an Uber-like ratings system for insurance appraisers is likely to come to market this year.
 
The platform, Real Matters, allows more than 30,000 property appraisers and insurance inspectors to report their findings. Each is then measured and ranked for the benefit of buyers and mortgage companies. According to its website, the appraisal business serves more than 50 of the top 100 lenders in the U.S.
 
Ontario-based Real Matters Corp., which has a valuation of more than $600 million, is almost definitely headed for an initial public offering this year, as one condition of a recent fund-raising round was that the company list on public markets before the end of 2016.
 
The acquisitions allowed by the $74 million thus raised enabled Real Matters to expand into collecting data on other parts of the real estate market, leaving it with the option of selling on additional information to new clients, such as contractors looking for neighbourhoods where renovations are likely to be in demand.
 
In the past six months, Real Matters has won contracts with most of the top five banks, including Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. Real Matters is also considering expanding operations to take in Europe and Australia.