Why Tech in CRE Is Finally Exploding

Why Compass, @properties and tech startups are diving into bridge loans

Once the gatekeepers to sales listings, real estate agents are increasingly in front of another key aspect of the home-buying process: the financing. To help clients increase their purchasing power, a number of residential brokerages have launched bridge loan programs that let clients borrow money to pay for a new home before they sell their old one. In addition to boosting sales, the programs are a way for firms to distinguish themselves from the competition — which is increasingly coming in th…

New Orleans’ Levelset Raises $30M As U.S. Construction Tech Funding Tops $1B In 2019

S3 Ventures, Altos Ventures, Operating Venture Capital, and Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar Ventures also participated in the financing, which brings the New Orleans-based company’s total raised since it was founded in 2008 to $47 million. (Levelset ranks among the most-funded startups in Louisiana today, according to Crunchbase data.) CEO Scott Wolfe founded Levelset after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, and his family was working in reconstruction efforts. He realized just how …

Seoul bolsters its smart city infrastructure with IoT network

The network will be based on Semtech’s LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN protocol. According to the Seoul government, the Smart Seoul Network, or “S-Net,” will provide all citizens with the basic right to Internet access. The main aims of the S-Net project are the establishment of a municipal broadband network, deployment of free-to-use wi-fi networks and increased integration of IoT infrastructure based on LoRa devices. By 2022, the city plans to deploy up to 1,000 LoRaWAN-based gateways to compleme…

Levelset draws $30M of investment, including funds from Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar

Levelset, the New Orleans-based tech company that helps construction contractors manage and complete the tangle of compliance paperwork needed to secure payment in a timely manner, announced today a $30 million round of funding led by Horizons Ventures with participation from S3 Ventures, Altos Ventures, Operating Venture Capital, Michael Gollner and Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar Ventures, bringing total outside investment to $47 million. As part of the deal, Bart Swanson of Horizons will…

India’s HomeLane raises $30M to expand its one-stop shop for interior desig

HomeLane, a Bangalore-based startup that helps people manage home renovations and interior design, today announced it has raised $30 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its proprietary technology. The financing round, dubbed Series D, was led by Evolvence India Fund (EIF), Pidilite Group and FJ Labs. Existing investors Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital and JSW Ventures also participated in the round, which pushes the five-year-old startup’s all-time raise to $46 million. Hom…

How The 2010s Changed CRE Forever: Part 2

Take a character from Mad Men out of the 1960s and plop him down in most U.S. office spaces until about 2010 and — except for desktop computers and women in positions of authority — things would look pretty similar to him. Bring him forward to today, however, and he’d be in much less familiar terrain. Fundamental change has come to the office sector over the last 10 years, in the way it looks, the way people interact with it, and the way landlords go about their business. Apartments might have b…

Former WeWork exec joins CompStak board

CompStak recently completed a $14 million Series B fundraise and is looking to break into new markets and take on new customers. Mandel said that Fano’s connections in the real estate business will certainly be an asset, but said CompStak will benefit as much from Fano’s expertise in how to manage that growth internally. While at WeWork, Fano helped to double annual revenues for four consecutive years. The co-working company has come under fire this year for a number of reasons, including growin…

Rudin confident on weathering WeWork storm

Bill Rudin spent time this summer at the Brooklyn Navy Yard — not exactly one of his haunting grounds. In its 94 years, his family real estate firm had never done a project in Brooklyn, let alone in an out-of-the-way industrial campus — and with an anchor tenant about to plunge into crisis. The CEO of Rudin Management was overseeing the finishing touches at Dock 72, a 675,000-square-foot building overlooking the East River. Complete with a basketball court and a rooftop conference center, it was…

Ucommune of China Gears Up for a New York IPO

China’s biggest co-working company has filed plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange, an early test of investor faith in flexible-office startups since We Co. pulled the plug on its IPO plans. Ucommune, which says it is the largest co-working firm in China based on the number of workstations and square feet it manages, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it seeks to raise $100 million, though analysts say that figure is often used as a placeholder until a …