Calgary-based real estate brokerage KIC Realty is merging with artificial intelligence (AI) technology firm Brewpilot to bring software development in-house and build tools tailored to its network of more than 150 agents.

“The founders, we’ve been always trying to do what we can to provide the agents with better tools to make our agents more successful, and one of our founders worked with the team over at Brewpilot years ago,” Ron McIntosh, president and co-founder of KIC Realty, said to TechNX in an interview. 

The brokerage was founded about five years ago, he said, and operates in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario.  

The relationship began when KIC set out to build an AI assistant for its brokers.

“One of the other partners, Michael Tam, introduced us to the people that he used to work with, and they were helping us build out our tools, and then it just evolved into rather than paying somebody to build this for us, why don’t we just work together?” McIntosh said.

Merger well underway

The Brewpilot team has already joined KIC and its members bring experience gained from working at Amazon, Meta, Mozilla and Mastercard. It was founded in 2024 offering AI-powered tools for the real estate industry.

McIntosh said bringing the development team in-house will make KIC more “limber.”

“We can pivot quicker. We can release new tools and systems quicker, and we can actually listen to our agents and build what they’re actually using, not just say, 'Here’s something out of the box, try and make it work.'”

“We’re actually trying to build stuff that they will use and will benefit their daily business,” he said.

Already, the Brewpilot team are well integrated into KIC, McIntosh explained.

“We already have weekly meetings. Our hub is up and running. We just released a new update on Friday, so we are already well underway. We are now in the process of creating the roadmap, the priority list of what gets launched first.”

“We’re moving at full speed right now.”

AI as tool for efficiency

KIC hopes Brewpilot's AI technology will reduce the administrative work its agents handle and improve efficiency.

But it wasn’t only the technology that prompted KIC to merge with Brewpilot. “We just like these guys. They get it. They know what we want to do, and they’re excited to build it,” McIntosh said.

KIC's ownership model also extends to the technology being developed. The brokerage offers agents opportunities to buy shares in the company, meaning they will have an ownership stake in the tools being built for them.

“The biggest benefit is, our agents are owners, so they own a part of the company. So rather than us just renting our tech, our agents will own a piece of the tech we’re building.” 

“They (already) own a part of the brokerage. They’re now owning the tools,” he said.

This move comes at a pivotal time for the brokerage and the industry, according to McIntosh.

“We’ve clearly had a little bit of a downturn but I feel it’s starting to change. If we compare year over year, we’re starting to do more deals each month than the previous years, so we are seeing it starting to pick up.”