• Startup that maps out development sites raises $2M in funding
• Honest Buildings Expands Series B Round to $21M with Additional Real Estate-Owner Investments
• Fifth Wall Leads $135 Million Investment With Lennar in Opendoor, Startup Changing the Way We Buy and Sell Homes
• This $10M blockchain VC deal could have a big impact on real estate
• CRE data startup Reonomy raises new venture round, partners with Newmark
• Real estate industry funnels $6M into Juniper Square
• Built Technologies Raises $21 Million Series A to Transform Construction Lending Industry
• Enertiv Closes $4.25 Million Round with Investment from Fifth Wall
• The 10 biggest real estate tech deals of 2017
• VC Funding in Real Estate Tech Leaped to $12.6B in 2017: Report
• A venture firm focused on real estate, Navitas Capital, just raised $60 million

 

If you are in CRE tech full-time as I am, it’s clear that since the 4th Quarter last year, something big is happening in CRE tech. I felt it at our December event where over 700 people showed up, shattering all of our estimates and previous attendance totals.

I feel it when I talk to startups everyday.

The VC’s I speak to on a regular basis all echoed this sentiment.

And I see it in the number of inbound inquiries, new meet-ups, and presentation/speaking requests from so many parts of the industry.

I also see it in the number of PR firms now working in the space, which is clearly a sign that there is now money for healthy retainers in the sector :)

And finally, I see it in the number of startups and developers reaching out to me to fill staffing positions.

I don’t know what the actual trigger was, but for sure I can tell you that this current phase of CRE tech is by far showing the clearest signs that momentum is happening at a significant pace. Not to suggest that we are at a tipping point in adoption (I still think that has a ways to go), but I do think we are at the point where progress is only going to accelerate going forward. And for those that think that the sector is overheated with regards to funding, I vehemently disagree. It’s just probably a shock to many to see such large investments being made in to relatively new and young companies. But that’s how these industry revolutions happen in tech.

If you follow where the money is going to companies like HB, REonomy, Convene, WeWork, Cadre, etc, these are indeed real companies, with real revenue and a customer bases.

That’s the true reflection of why things are heating up in CRE tech.

Something is indeed happening and it’s only going to accelerate in my humble opinion.