Curated daily by our industry experts. Stay informed on how tech is shaping the real estate industry with these important headlines.
CONSTRUCTIONINDEX
Buildots is an Israeli artificial intelligence construction technology firm that has arrived in the UK, opening an office in London. Buildots incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D computer vision technologies to provide on-site project teams with a platform that tracks activity and progress. Its developers claim that this “optimises subcontractor productivity, increases on-site efficiency and reduces time and costs”
BIZJOURNALS
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic does not appear to have affected leasing at The Square, Houston-based Hines’ first play for a piece of the booming coworking business. Annie Rinker, director of Hines’ office of innovation, said tenants have already spoken for 25 percent of the space, which is capable of accommodating nearly 300 people. Rinker said Hines hopes to cross the 30 percent threshold by the end of March, the first month the new space has been open to tenants.
COMMERCIALOBSERVER
As proptech advances and evolves the way real estate is managed and handled, it has also been transforming the firms and companies within the industry. Goodwin law firm launched its proptech practice a year-and-a-half ago this month, which brought together the firm’s real estate and tech experts to take advantage of the expanding sector.
BLOOMBERG
Oyo Hotels, one of the largest startups in SoftBank Group Corp.’s portfolio, is promising cash to hotels in Japan that join its platform as bookings plunge in the coronavirus-stricken country. The Indian startup, looking to get more hotels into its network and expand its reach, will pay new members a lump sum equal to a proportion of their past year’s revenue, the company said in a statement on Friday.
TECHCRUNCH
From long payment cycles to antiquated processes on how to bill workers, the hefty inefficiencies of the construction industry are long overdue for innovation. Enter startups such as the large venture-backed Katerra and recently public companies such as Procore. Still, independent contractors or workers from small family businesses often can’t afford hefty fees from SaaS platforms promising better management. Or, they don’t have a parent company behind them to foot the bill….
BLOOMBERG
Co-working startup the Wing will close all locations starting Saturday, taking precautions following the global spread of the coronavirus. The company, whose offerings focus on women, has 11 branches in the U.S. and London. Offices will remain closed through at least March 31, the startup said.
HOUSINGWIRE
Real estate technology company Compass has hired former Amazon executive Greg Hart as its new chief product officer. During his 23 years at Amazon, Hart was on the digital executive leadership group, where he had a key role in turning Amazon from an online bookstore into a retail and technology powerhouse.
THEREALDEAL
Airbnb has lost tens of millions of dollars in booking revenues over the past several weeks in key cities that have been hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak. The home-sharing startup’s booking revenues fell dramatically across 17 key international cities over a span of five weeks starting at the beginning of February, according to analysis by The Real Deal of data from the Airbnb-analytics firm AirDNA.
FINSMES
Neolix, a Chinese autonomous driving vehicle company, raised nearly RMB 200M in Series A+ funding. Backers included Li Xiang’s Lixiang Automotive, Addor Capital and existing shareholders Yunqi Partners and Glory Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to launch its AI autonomous driving vehicles. Founded in 2018, Neolix began as a autonomous driving vehicle company focused on autonomous vehicle delivery, and now has more than 160 employees.
BLOOMBERG
Do automakers investing billions in the self-driving cars of tomorrow risk repeating the same mistake they made with electric cars a decade ago?Cutting-edge robotic people-movers from the likes of General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Jaguar Land Rover all share similarly rectangular dimensions with more of an eye toward engineering practicality than sex appeal.
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