Today Obie, a Chicago-based startup attempting to do just that for commercial real estate (CRE), announced the close of a $2.8 million seed round (backed amongst others by MetaProp, one of the interviewees in the article cited above) as well as the public launch of its platform which until now was invite-only. Brothers Ryan and Aaron Letzeiser – a Forbes 30 Under 30 alumn – set up the company with the goal of serving the “silent majority of commercial real estate owners and funds”, as Ryan Letzeiser calls organizations with portfolios under $1 billion, which tend to be underserved by technology.