Curated daily by our industry experts. Stay informed on how tech is shaping the real estate industry with these important headlines.
Bloomberg
Shopify Inc. nearly doubled its revenue in the second quarter, crushing analysts’ estimates as a flood of merchants moved their businesses online during the coronavirus pandemic. Sales grew 97% to $714.3 million from the same quarter a year ago, Ottawa-based Shopify said in a statement Wednesday. Analysts had expected about $512 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg….
Bisnow
Just a few months ago, touchless tools like app-controlled or voice-controlled doors, elevators and lighting seemed too fanciful or expensive for all but the highest-tiered Class-A luxury buildings, but the coronavirus has turned the commercial real estate industry’s view of these amenities on its head.
Bisnow
A tech startup that aims to help developers, councils and local authorities to connect has raised £3M to fund its expansion plans. Commonplace has completed a Series A funding round led by Beringea, a Detroit and London-based venture capital firm. The company is a digital platform that allows local communities to give feedback on property and infrastructure projects more easily, giving them a say in their local environment and allowing developers and councils to better measure what the public re…
Crunchbase
Logistics startup byrd secured a $5.8 million Series A round of funding to advance its global fulfillment platform. The company was founded in 2016 in Vienna by Alexander Leichter, Christoph Krofitsch, Petra Dobrocka and Sebastian Mach, and uses cloud-based software to connect more than 200 online retailers with fulfillment centers and shipping service across multiple countries….
Commercial Observer
It’s been a roller-coaster of a year for proptech with a new wave of unicorns, WeWork’s implosion, and a global pandemic. And Brendan Wallace and Brad Greiwe, the co-founders and managing partners of Fifth Wall Ventures, have been at the forefront of it. In the last 12 months, the Los Angeles-based venture capital firm raised $503 million for its second general fund to invest in proptech companies; a $100 million retail fund for digitally native retail brands, and a $200 million decarbonization …
Estates Gazette
I’m not sure if it is the fact that many of them are calling in from the familiar comfort of their own homes or whether the camaraderie that comes from fighting a common battle has given people more confidence to speak from the heart, but the result is the same either way. CREtech and Future PropTech’s Reimagining Real Estate event is about so much more than a series of discussions on the future of the market.
PlaceTech.
The leading global provider of mission-critical software-as-a-service platforms and on-demand technology to the flexible workspace industry, announces the launch of Smart Access. In a flexible office portfolio, space access is a common pain point for operators and their members. Administering entry for hundreds, even thousands of end-users, across multiple locations, private offices and meeting rooms can be complex and challenging, making the management of workplace access time-consuming and fru…
Bisnow
As WeWork fights to retain tenants around the world in what some are calling a vacancy crisis, other companies in the flexible office space industry see mixed results. Convene began to reopen its offices in late June, but with most clients’ average Convene lease lasting 18 months, companies are hesitant to recommit. CEO Ryan Simonetti told Bisnow in June he hoped for 25% to 50% occupancy at best by the end of 2020. Knotel, which let go of half its staff this year while Q2 revenue fell 20%, just …
Wall Street Journal
The pandemic has made business more dependent on cloud-computing than ever—and companies are now racing to rein in the soaring costs. Cloud spending at Audi Business Innovation GmbH, a unit of Volkswagen AG -owned car maker Audi, jumped 12% between March and April, with employees using more of the rented, remote computing power and software tools to work from home. But with car sales plunging, companywide budgets were under pressure….
The Real Deal
When it rains, it pours. These aren’t the drops that seem to drench New York City nearly every afternoon this summer, but the lawsuits that are piling up against Knotel, claiming the flex-office company is skipping out on rent. Since the beginning of July, at least four landlords have sued Knotel alleging the company owes a total of $1.6 million in unpaid rent, court records show.
Subscribe to CREtech to get our monthly newsletter curated by our editors and special event discounts and announcements.
or sign in if you're already a member