Austin airport moves into public testing of driverless shuttle

The office landlord’s big gamble: WeWork is sole tenant in at least 5 NYC office buildings

Office landlords in New York City — known to play it safe and fill their buildings with multiple tenants to mitigate risk — are breaking the rules for WeWork, the office space startup that has gobbled up 5 million square feet across the city. In the rare case that a landlord is smitten by that one tenant, they’re almost always looking for a company with a great track record or a sturdy business model, such as a white-shoe law firm or a well-capitalized financial institution.

Microsoft, First Solar Partner for Solar-Powered Data Centers

Microsoft’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its operations is making big steps. The company’s amount of renewable energy powering its data centers will reach the 60 percent mark this year, ahead of schedule. Although the tech company is nowhere to be found in SEIA’s 2018 Solar Means Business Report, the answer lies in wind—Microsoft has invested consistently in wind projects.

Compass to ex-Uber staffers: Ride with us!

A day after Uber laid off a third of its marketing team, Compass’ Matt Spangler snapped into action. On Twitter, the brokerage’s chief creative officer retweeted a Google spreadsheet listing those impacted and invited them to check out Compass’ open roles. And there are many.

Dallas coworking firm Common Desk gets new investor for growth

One of the country’s fastest-growing office furniture and equipment companies is investing with a Dallas-based shared office firm. Varidesk is the lead investor in a new round of funding for Common Desk, the 7-year-old coworking firm with locations in North Texas and Austin. Common Desk and Varidesk have collaborated previously.

Doubling down on business travelers, Airbnb acquires Urbandoor

Airbnb has today announced the acquisition of Urbandoor, a platform that offers extended stays to corporate clients. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Urbandoor was founded in 2015, according to Crunchbase. One of the big differentiators between Urbandoor and Airbnb was not only its focus on business travelers, relocation, etc., but also that Urbandoor  negotiated directly with multifamily owners rather than renters….

CREtech Releases Venture Capital Investments in Commercial Real Estate Tech Report for July 2019

Leading Research Platform in the Commercial Real Estate Tech Industry Releases Monthly Report on VC Funding and Investments New York, NY (August 6, 2019) — CREtech (cretech.com), the leading event, content and connectivity platform for the commercial real estate technology industry released the Monthly Funding Snapshot Report on venture capital investments for July 2019.  The report concluded that investments in private real estate tech companies reached $2.5 billion, a 126% month-to-month i…

The Need for Tech Innovation

The signs are everywhere. Investment in real estate technology increased 607 percent in Q1 2019 compared to the previous year. Real estate technology-focused events like ICSC, Realcomm and CREtech continue to break attendance records. In survey after survey, a majority of real estate executives have expressed a desire to embrace innovation.

Remarkably Secures $4.1 Million Round to Propel Early Stage Growth, Announces Portfolio Analysis Functionality

The Seattle-based company has raised a venture round led by Wildcat Venture Partners to drive enterprise sales growth, technology integrations, and further development of its disruptive multifamily portfolio performance software SEATTLE — August 6, 2019 — Remarkably, a multifamily portfolio performance software company focused on helping property owners and managers improve cash flow and asset value, today announced it has secured a fundraising round for up to $4.1 million in seed round …

Amazon Isn’t Buying Your Home, Just Filling It Up

Amazon.com AMZN -1.73% may have taken over the majority of your purchases, but the buck stops at real estate, apparently. Last week, the retail giant said it was partnering with the nation’s largest residential brokerage company Realogy Holdings Corp. to refer motivated consumers on Amazon’s platform to real-estate agents from Realogy RLGY 2.69% ’s brands such as Coldwell Banker and Century 21….