How do FTSE 100 REITs approach tech and sustainability?

Both landlords have published their full year results to the end of March 2022. Although much of the focus has been on the rebound in their financial position, post-lockdown, these reports also offer a progress report on their sustainability targets. ESG is high on both developers’ agenda. Allan, for example, linked his company’s “strong position, financially and operationally” to meeting environmental targets.

Latch, a proptech meets SaaS play, conducts two consecutive weeks of layoffs

In the email viewed by TechCrunch, Latch CEO Luke Schoenfelder told staff that the first round of layoffs were conducted to “ensure Latch is on a path to sustainable growth.” He also said that Latch will be reducing some areas of the business, but unsure if that means cutting entire products or just shrinking resources behind each vision. TechCrunch reached out to Latch about this week’s layoffs but has not yet heard back at time of publication.

For Tech Startups, the Party Is Over

A dizzying turn in technology-startup investing is undoing the fortunes of founders and investors riding a 13-year bull run. Highflying startups have been grounded, swiftly, by the new climate: layoffs, skeptical investors, an exodus of funds and the prospect of a valuation haircut.

Developing sustainable buildings through circular design

The construction sector is witnessing an unprecedented policy and regulatory environment for climate-related legislation and action plans in Ireland. Organisations are becoming concerned about the impact of climate-related risks on their business, strategy, and outlook, writes Matt Kennedy, Carbon and Climate Lead, at Arup in Ireland.

Why we need global cooperation on decarbonizing cities and real estate

In an increasingly challenging and volatile world, the urgent need to decarbonize real estate remains a constant. There are no quick fixes that will suddenly transform today’s energy inefficient buildings into models of sustainable construction in the coming decades. It will take time, investment and expertise to retrofit the majority of buildings across urban areas. …

Proptech Company View in Danger of Being Delisted on Nasdaq

Last week, View anticipated that it would disclose a cash balance of $201 million at the end of the first quarter of this year with no substantial debt, but it did not formally report its results, according to a company statement. Its stock price slipped below $1 on May 11 — and currently hovers at around $0.60 a share — after the firm announced there may be “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue,” because it lacks enough cash to meet its operating costs and obligations for a…

Nomagic picks up $22M for its e-commerce warehouse picking robots

Robotics are playing a growing role in the world of e-commerce logistics and fulfillment — where they are seen not just as a way to speed up operations but to drastically reduce the costs of running them — and today a startup developing software and hardware specifically in the area of robot picking is announcing some funding.

Is proptech failing real estate?

“It’s clear the real estate industry as we know it is in need of digitalisation, in need for more innovation, different business models, more tech,” Alexander Gebauer said at a debate at the ULI Europe Conference in Brussels last week.

Innovation: If not now, then when?

To brutalise Leo Tolstoy, every non innovative company is the same, but every innovative company is innovative in their own way.

When you look at innovative companies they are all doing so in their own particular way. It can be difficult to understand what one can learn from individual companies, especially from sectors not our own.

Barcelona bets on ‘digital twin’ as future of city planning

In five years’ time, the structure of Europe’s cities won’t be decided in local town halls but inside a quiet 19th-century chapel in a leafy neighborhood of Barcelona. Housed in the deconsecrated Torre Girona chapel, the MareNostrum supercomputer — one of the world’s most powerful data processors — is already busily analyzing how to improve city planning in Barcelona.