Curated daily by our industry experts. Stay informed on how tech is shaping the real estate industry with these important headlines.
BISNOW
WeWork battled extreme turbulence in 2019 after a failed IPO and a flurry of negative headlines, but, to the surprise of some analysts, that didn’t stop properties leased by the coworking giant from being used as collateral for billions of dollars worth of securitized mortgages in the last few months.
GEEKWIRE
Amazon Go is going full grocery. Two years after launching a chain of convenience stores without cashiers or checkout lines, Amazon is opening its first “Amazon Go Grocery” store in Seattle on Tuesday morning, enlarging the footprint for surveillance-style shopping and signaling a larger challenge to the broader world of brick-and-mortar retail. The debut is also the answer to a longstanding mystery about the 7,700-square-foot space, at 610 E. Pike Street in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. …
ENGADGET
Staples’ latest ploy to get people into its retail stores is podcast recording booths. This week, the podcasting company Spreaker announced that it’s part of a collaboration bringing recording spaces to six Staples stores in the Boston area. The booths are part of a new Staples Connect model, in which the retail stores offer coworking and community event spaces.
PODBEAN
Join host Mark Gilbreath for “THE FLEXIBLE OFFICE ECONOMY” a weekly dive into the fast moving waters of flexible office, coworking, mobility, workplace experience and commercial real estate, featuring candid conversations with innovators and leaders from across the Flexible Office Economy.
VENTUREBEAT
In a sign that investors’ enthusiasm for driverless cars hasn’t dampened yet, Pony.ai today secured a whopping $462 million in fresh funding, $400 million of which came from Toyota. The capital infusion brings the Guangzhou- and Fremont, California-based startup’s total raised to about $800 million at a valuation north of $3 billion (up from $1 billion as of October 2019), following previous venture rounds just shy of $265 million in total.
MEDIUM
How to create an extraordinary startup culture while selling into one of the most antiquated industries on the planet. I gave a presentation a little bit ago about creating a culture of innovation within the PropTech ecosystem. I based my comments on my interpretation of the current thinking around company building as well as a synthesis of the thousands of conversations I’ve had with CRETech/PropTech founders, investors, and customers over the last decade….
BUSINESSINSIDER
The San Francisco-based DoorDash announced Thursday that it had confidentially filed IPO paperwork with the SEC, the first step toward a public offering. But back in late 2019, the startup became the first food delivery platform in the US to venture into the ghost kitchen market.
CRETECH
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WSJ
Amazon.com Inc. rolled out its checkout-free “Go” technology in a large grocery store and plans to license the cashierless system to other retailers. Amazon Go Grocery opened in Seattle on Tuesday. It uses an array of cameras, shelf sensors and software to allow shoppers to pick up items as varied as organic produce and wine and walk out without stopping to pay or scan merchandise. Accounts are automatically charged through a smartphone app once shoppers leave the store. …
CRETech
DRIVING HEADLINES This week in real estate tech witnessed a high deal volume across a variety of states in North America. The more notable rounds of capital went to companies that focus on driverless cars, smart home technologies, sustainable vehicle systems and high-end furniture rentals. On February 27th, Dealpath received a strategic investment in the form of development capital from the Blackstone Group. The investment amount was undisclosed. Dealpath is a San Francisco-based real estate…
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