Curated daily by our industry experts. Stay informed on how tech is shaping the real estate industry with these important headlines.
THEREALDEAL
Industrious, a flexible-workspace company, plans to open a 100,000-square-foot space at the bottom of One Penn Plaza. The space will be split between about 80,000 square feet of flexible office space and 20,000 square feet of conference and event space on the first three floors of the Vornado Realty Trust property, according to Crain’s.
GLOBEST
The Bank of America Tower recently received a three-star rating from Fitwel, a certification system for optimizing building design and operations to support human health and well-being. The development ranks at the top of Fitwel’s certification scale, earning three out of three stars to become the first and largest project in Texas–at 775,000 square feet–to be recognized under the latest standard, according to development and construction firm Skanska.
THENEGOTIATOR
The brain drain from Knight Frank to growing property management platform Rentify continues. The platform, which in October poached Knight Frank high flier Lucy Jones, was established in 2011 and has so far received some £8 million in funding. But three more Knight Frank seniors have now also joined the lettings agency. The first is Giles Barrett, a former Partner at Knight Frank, who has joined Rentify after a spell heading up Knight Frank’s South Kensington office. Second is Mathew Hahn who…
YOUTUBE
Hundreds of industry professionals, investors and technology leaders were on hand to watch 10 pitches from the Colliers Proptech Accelerator Powered by Techstars Class of 2019. Check out our recap of Demo Day 2019!
TECHEU
Capmo, a Munich-based digital construction software, has secured a €5 million Series A, led by Capnamic Ventures and angels from Munich’s Center for Digital Technology and Management network. Existing investors UVC Partners and HW Capital also participated. The German startup has created a cloud-based SaaS tool that serves as an operating system for construction sites. Legacy construction software is highly complex and built for desktop use, so for many site managers, it’s inaccessible in mor…
TECHCRUNCH
Industrial robots are expensive. But, then, so are construction mistakes. Being off by an inch here or there adds up quickly, and too often crews need to correct costly errors. There’s a reason construction has become the next great target of the robotics and automation industries, with a number of startups vying to create solutions that can constantly monitor sites to detect mistakes before it’s too late.
NYTIMES
Poised on a cliff above First Avenue, Tudor City was conceived during the 1920s by the storied developer Fred F. French as a high-rise community for thousands of middle-class residents. A century later, it remains a throwback to the early glamour days of skyscraper living: a dozen brick towers fancifully decorated with half-timbered lobbies, stone crests and other mock-Tudor details.
REALASSETS
Real estate fund manager Patrizia has acquired a real estate crowdfunding platform that recently went into administration. The German-based company has bought BrickVest, a proptech business that was created in 2014 to enable individuals to participate in institutional-grade real estate deals. BrickVest raised close to £12m (€14.1m) and made a number of real estate deals before going into administration. It is the latest move by Patrizia into the burgeoning proptech sector. Last year, it invested…
PROPERTYWEEK
The goal for the fund would make it Pi Labs largest to date—five times the value of Fund 2. “The success of our first close of Fund 3 firmly cements our position as one of the leading European proptech VCs,” said Faisal Butt, chief executive, chairman, and founder of Pi Labs. “It is testament to the continued appetite for institutional capital to be invested into proptech.” In June 2019, Butt said Pi Labs would double the number of startups it funds over the next five years, giving each funding…
TECHCRUNCH
Japan’s tourism industry is booming, but it faces a hotel room shortage, especially in Tokyo as the country prepares for the Summer Olympics. H2O (the name stands for Hospitality 2.0) addresses the market opportunity with a platform that helps vacation rental owners manage their properties. The startup announced today it has raised $7 million in Series B funding from Samsung Ventures, Stonebridge Ventures, IMM Investment and Shinhan Capital, bringing its total raised to $18 million.
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