Dealpath Connect: A New Approach to CRE Deal Distribution for Institutional Investors

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

08 Apr 2025

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“Today, it’s all done through email. Buyers are receiving these emails… it’s very inefficient, essentially spammy and chaotic,” explains Gary Kao, Managing Director at Dealpath, describing the current state of commercial real estate deal distribution. “A buyer would have to get these opportunities, and then they have to sift through attachments, PDFs, websites, spreadsheets to get all the information they need.”

This pain point has long been accepted as an unavoidable reality of commercial real estate transactions—until now.

From Email Chaos to Streamlined Distribution

In commercial real estate, where investment analysts routinely wade through 50 to 100 property listings per week, the inefficiency of email-based deal distribution has become a significant obstacle. Dealpath, the real estate industry’s leading investment and deal management platform serving over 300 institutional clients globally, is addressing this challenge with its newest solution: Dealpath Connect.

The platform, which has recently secured partnerships with industry giants CBRE Capital Markets and JLL, represents a fundamental shift in how investment opportunities reach potential buyers.

“Dealpath Connect is a more effective distribution channel for brokers,” Kao explains. “It helps accelerate deals and enables investors to see all relevant opportunities more efficiently.”

How It Works: Precision-Targeted Deal Distribution

At its core, Dealpath Connect leverages the company’s established position as the system of record for many of the world’s largest real estate investors. By understanding the investment criteria—or “buy boxes” as they’re known in the industry—of their institutional clients, Dealpath can ensure that listings from brokerages reach the most relevant potential buyers.

“When CBRE or JLL or other brokerages are marketing deals through Dealpath Connect, we’re able to programmatically provide feedback that based on the buy boxes or the latest investment committee approvals, here are the 10, 12, 20 clients that would have a high interest in seeing this deal,” says Kao.

The results are compelling: Buyers receive more relevant opportunities directly at the top of their inbox, while sellers benefit from increased engagement and more submitted bids.

The Technology Challenge: Data Standardization

Creating this seamless connection between buyers and sellers required solving complex technical challenges, particularly around data standardization.

Kao notes that for any given deal, there are typically “20 to 40 data points that our investment clients are keen to focus on,” ranging from building class and square footage to asking price and region-specific attributes.

To extract this information efficiently, Dealpath has developed AI Extract, a proprietary technology that uses artificial intelligence to automatically pull key information from marketing materials like offering memorandums and teasers.

“We invested significant resources internally to build and ensure quality and precision,” Kao shares, highlighting that this AI capability is just the beginning of what’s possible as the platform continues to evolve.

Beyond Basic Distribution: The Data Advantage

While streamlining deal distribution represents a significant advancement, Kao sees it as just the foundation for more sophisticated capabilities.

“We think data distribution is really the first step,” he explains. “To some extent, I think three, five years from now, it’ll just be table stakes. There will be many companies that can handle data distribution and integrations effectively.”

The real value, according to Kao, lies in enriching listing data with additional market intelligence: “It’s very different if you bring that information and couple that with the comps available in CompStak or in RCA, or you’re pulling in demographic data from energy sources. That becomes truly valuable because that rich data set helps you see much more.”

Market Validation and Future Direction

The rapid adoption of Dealpath Connect by industry leaders signals strong market validation. After launching with JLL as their first partner, the addition of CBRE Capital Markets—one of the largest commercial real estate service providers globally—represents a significant endorsement.

“With CBRE coming on, it’s been a great validation. This is really where the market is heading,” Kao shares, adding that more partnership announcements are forthcoming.

Industry Tailwinds

The timing for Dealpath Connect appears opportune, as Kao notes several favorable market trends: “Overall, we’re seeing a change in demand, where real estate transactions are returning to the market.”

This renewed market activity is driving increased technology budgets and greater interest in solutions that can accelerate due diligence and deal evaluation. Kao also points to larger transaction sizes and portfolio consolidation as factors driving demand for more sophisticated deal management tools.

“All of these factors contribute to increasing demand for software that better utilizes AI for synthesizing data from massive information sources and helps investors screen for the right deals,” he concludes.

As the commercial real estate industry continues to embrace digital solutions, Dealpath Connect offers a significant advancement—eliminating the inefficiencies of traditional email-based deal marketing and creating a more direct, targeted connection between sellers and institutional buyers. For an industry traditionally cautious about new technologies, this development may indicate a quickening pace of innovation across the transaction lifecycle.