property-tax
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BS&A and the Town Hall That Stopped Passing Paper
A Michigan software company found a durable business in the least glamorous corner of government: helping the people who collect taxes, pay staff and issue permits work from the same set of facts.
CATALIS Bought 30 Gov-Tech Companies. The Hard Part Was Making Them Feel Like One.
CATALIS assembled a billion-dollar government software portfolio by buying the specialists already running courts, tax offices and city halls. Now it has to make those inherited tools easier to use, easier to connect and harder for public servants to dislike.
Ryan Built a $1.24 Billion Business Finding Money Companies Left Behind
The tax specialist started on credit cards, nearly lost a star employee to its work culture, and then rebuilt both the office and the product. Today, Ryan says it serves 74,000 clients and recovered more than $4 billion for them in a single year.
Colton Pace
Colton Pace is the co-founder and CEO of Ownwell, an Austin-based proptech company that helps property owners lower the cost of real estate ownership by appealing over-assessed property taxes. A former asset manager who oversaw billions for wealthy families, Pace built Ownwell in 2020 to give everyday homeowners the same optimization tools that sophisticated investors use. The company has processed more than 1 million appeals, saved customers over $400 million, and raised a $50 million Series B in early 2026.
Ownwell
Ownwell is an Austin-based real estate fintech that helps property owners lower their tax bills by automating the property tax appeal process. Combining local tax experts with AI and proprietary market data, Ownwell files appeals, gathers evidence, and represents owners at hearings on a no-savings, no-fee basis. Founded in 2020 by Colton Pace and Joseph Noor, the company has processed more than 1 million appeals and saved customers over $400 million, aiming to give everyday homeowners the same tax expertise that large investment firms use.
Castle
Castle is a New York-based fintech building payments infrastructure for the roughly $3 trillion Americans spend on their homes each year. Its consumer app turns the chaotic paperwork of homeownership - utility bills, property and school taxes, insurance, renovations and maintenance - into a single digital filing cabinet with automated bill pay, transaction monitoring that surfaces tax credits, rebates and overcharges, and fraud protection. Founded by Madeline Hung after a gut-renovation of a historic Hudson Valley photo studio revealed how little data homeowners have on their biggest asset, Castle says its average customer saves over $10,000.
WOWA
WOWA is a Toronto-based financial technology company that runs WOWA.ca, described as Canada's largest personal finance encyclopedia. It offers 1,000+ free calculators, guides, market reports, and daily-updated rate tables covering mortgages, GICs, HELOCs, property and land transfer taxes, and the housing market, used by millions of Canadians a year. Founded in 2018 by former bank quant Hanif Bayat, WOWA also operates an AI-powered marketplace that connects home buyers and sellers with vetted real estate agents, and earns revenue through lead fees from lenders and fintech partners.
Just Appraised
Just Appraised builds AI-powered software for local governments - starting with county assessors and clerks. Founded in 2017 at Stanford, the Palo Alto company now serves 300+ counties across 30 states, turning paper-bound deed processing, exemptions, appeals, and constituent services into modern digital workflows.