Material Bank Raises $100 Million Series C to Fuel Continued Growth Across its Technology and Logistics Platform

With funding from a consortium of strategic investors, co-led by General Catalyst and Durable Capital Partners LP with participation from BOND, Lead Edge Capital, Bain Capital Ventures and Raine Ventures, Material Bank is powering a new state-of-the-art, robotics-enhanced logistics center and furthering technology innovation across its ecosystem

Google’s 3-Word Plan for Returning to Work Is the Best I’ve Ever Seen

E-Commerce Mega-Warehouses, a Smog Source, Face New Pollution Rule

Southern California is home to the nation’s largest concentration of warehouses — a hub of thousands of mammoth structures, served by belching diesel trucks, that help feed America’s booming appetite for online shopping and also contribute to the worst air pollution in the country.

Procore Acquires Construction Artificial Intelligence Company, INDUS.AI

CARPINTERIA, Calif., May 6, 2021 –  Procore Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of construction management software, today announced it has acquired INDUS.AI, makers of an artificial intelligence-powered analytics platform for the construction industry. This acquisition adds computer vision capabilities to the Procore platform, helping owners, general contractors, and specialty contractors realize greater efficiencies, safety, and profitability. Terms of the transaction are not being disclose…

This origami-inspired shelter is designed for fast post-disaster housing

In the wake of a disaster—like the earthquake that struck Mamuju, Indonesia, earlier this year, damaging thousands of homes—one of the challenges is how to quickly build shelters to house people in the aftermath. After the Indonesian quake, many families ended up in makeshift shelters that didn’t offer protection from ongoing monsoon rains. Tents help, but also take time to put up. A new design could help speed up the process by combining the idea of an inflatable bouncy house …

SoftBank leads $15M round for China’s industrial robot maker Youibot

SoftBank has picked its bet in China’s flourishing industrial robotics space. Youibot, a four-year-old startup that makes autonomous mobile robots for a range of scenarios, said it has notched close to 100 million yuan ($15.47 million) in its latest funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia, the Seoul-based early-stage arm of the global investment behemoth.

No room in the warehouse: Amazon fuels shortage

Amazon takes up warehouse space — a lot of it. It’s to the point where the vacancy rate is so low in some North American cities that their economies could be throttled, according to Colliers International Group and CBRE reports cited by Bloomberg News. … That’s the lowest among major North American markets.

SL Green to offer flex offices at One Vanderbilt

One of Manhattan’s biggest office landlords is hopping on the flex–office bandwagon. SL Green will dedicate the entire 54th floor of One Vanderbuilt, its 58-story Midtown East skyscraper, to flexible offices that will be known as Altus Suites, Crain’s reported.

S.F. Life Sciences Streak Continues With New $400M Waterfront Campus

The Bay Area’s life sciences boom continues with the announcement of a 570K SF waterfront complex in Brisbane, California, between San Francisco and the city’s major airport. The development, dubbed Genesis Marina, underscores what Cushman & Wakefield Managing Director Marc Ward told Bisnow has been “a golden era for life science in the Bay Area.” Even with 4M SF under construction in the region, per JLL’s 2020 sector overview, the last few weeks have seen two substantial deals for life scie…

That Vacated Sears Store May Reopen as a Public School

Mall owners have hit on a new way to fill gaping holes left by failed department stores and other departing big-box tenants: hosting public schools in need of more space.