Matterport CEO Pittman: 'We are a transformational business'

• It probably makes sense that Matterport (NASDAQ:MTTR) Chief Executive R.J. Pittman is an alumnus of the University of Michigan, and a big fan of the Michigan Wolverines. After all, Michigan's football stadium is called the Big House, and at Matterport (MTTR), Pittman oversees a company that sees big potential in technology that is re-shaping how people see and interact with buildings ranging from homes to schools to commercial offices.
• "We say this is the company that has been digitizing the built world for a decade," Pittman said, in an interview with Seeking Alpha. "Our target market is every building and every country in the world."
• Matterport (MTTR) is working toward that lofty goal with what is called 3D spatial data technology, a combination of different types of cameras, software and applications that are used to capture building spaces and designs and build a 3D "twin" of a specific location. This twin can then be used in a number of situations, such as presenting a realistic look at a home that a real estate agent can use for virtual tours that reach far more potential buyers than a traditional weekend open house.
• "The simple idea is to make a digital property that is so realistic you have an unlimited capacity to make that property accessible to the rest of the world," Pittman said. "It's a profound and basic concept, but it can have major effects on a trillion-dollar industry."
• Make that a $230 trillion industry, which is what Pittman estimates is the value of the worldwide real property market. In order to get as much business from that potential market, Pittman said it is important that Matterport (MTTR) offers what he calls "an open ecosystem", or a data layer that can be easily used on any type of computing system, including mobile devices.
• "The software is so good that you can download it to your iPhone and digitize your whole house in 20 minutes," said Pittman, who added that Matterport (MTTR) recently added digital twin capture capabilities for Google Android (NASDAQ:GOOG) devices.
• "Android represents 75% of the smartphone market in the world," Pittman said. "And once you put Android into the frame, the number of compatible devices that can create a Matterport digital twin is almost unlimited."
• Founded in 2011, Matterport (MTTR) went public in July in a SPAC merger with Gores Holdings VI. Pittman said going public let Matterport (MTTR) raise $640 million out of the gate that it can use to develop new 3D spatial technologies and grow its business.
• Since going public, Pittman said Matterport (MTTR) has had to learn how to deal with what can appear to be fickle market sentiment from investors. For example, on Dec. 1, Matterport (MTTR) shares scored a gain of 12% after the company said its digital twin platform will be available on Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) AWS Marketplace. Then, on Dec 3, Matterport's (MTTR) shares fell more than 10% on no notable company news.
• "We are a transformational business," Pittman said. "By definition, we're going to be volatile for a while. Right now, we're new to the market and people are going to get excited about us."
• Because of its emphasis on 3D spatial technology, Matterport (MTTR) has also found itself mentioned within the subject of Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) Metaverse plans. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said with its current tech offerings, and the Metaverse opportunities, Matterport (MTTR) is in the "early innings" of a potentially huge growth story.
• "They are at the intersection of the transformational Metaverse theme with its Facebook-Meta partnership just the start of a much broader strategy," Ives said. "We expect more technology partnerships heading into the next 12 to 18 months."
• Pittman said that the advent of the Metaverse will likely play into how Matterport (MTTR) the next phase of its mission.
• "Stage one was about digitizing all the buildings possible," Pittman said. "The second stage is the datafication of the built world and what you do with all the data once you have it. We want to let you create any virtual experience at the click of a button."