BREAKING: NavigatorCRE raises $17.2M Series A to accelerate state-of-the-art data analytics and visualization adoption in Commercial Real Estate

Seattle, WA Aug 3rd, 2021 – NavigatorCRE, a leading edge commercial real estate (CRE) data analytics SaaS platform completed its Series A funding round, led by Fulcrum Equity Partners and was joined by existing investors. The Seattle based start-up, whose founders were all prominent commercial real estate veterans, saw a huge gap in the technology that serves this industry and found that most operators from Asset Managers to Brokers have extremely limited capabilities to unlock the power of da…

Data, Connectivity Keys to Proptech’s Role in Smart Cities: CO Experts

Style and substance go hand in hand, as both innovation and data collection have laid the foundation for technology’s future in real estate. Spanning three days, the latest Commercial Observer forum — the inaugural IGNITEevent — identified the opportunities that the property technology (proptech) sphere has created for growth within the industry.

Self-Leasing to Smart Buildings: What’s Next in CRE Tech, Part 2

John Helm, Partner at RET Ventures, speaks to the value of self-leasing technology, and what options become available to tenants and owners with ubiquitous wifi.

As Cyberattacks Surge, Security Start-Ups Reap the Rewards

SAN FRANCISCO — As cyberattacks proliferated this year, Sanjay Beri, the chief executive of Netskope, a cloud security start-up, got a phone call. Then an email. Then more messages. All were from venture capitalists who wanted to invest in his company. Given the ransomware attacks and nation-state hacks that were making headlines, they told him, companies that made security products had a bigger market and mission than before. “We weren’t looking for capital,” said Mr. Beri, who founded Netsko…

Chinese Property Titan Teeters as Investor Confidence Fades

HONG KONG—For years, China Evergrande Group rode some of the biggest trends in Chinese finance, using debt-fueled growth to capitalize on a seemingly unstoppable property boom in China. Global investors, many of whom believed the developer was too big to fail, bought up its high-yielding U.S. dollar bonds to earn fat returns. Now, Chinese entrepreneur Hui Ka Yan’s real-estate-focused conglomerate is struggling to adapt to a new era—and its depressed stock and bond prices point to shaken in…

Wooden Buildings Reach for the Sky

VAXJO, Sweden — Stockholm and its suburbs are filled with construction cranes these days, reflecting a growing population combined with a housing shortage. But few of its developments are as extensive as Hagastaden, just to the north of central Stockholm where it meets the neighboring municipality of Solna. Here, it looks as if an entirely new city is being built. The 237-acre, or 96-hectare, development is a collection of housing, offices, institutions and public space projects conceived as a…

Tech disrupts the €2tn construction market

Technology innovators and entrepreneurs across Europe are increasingly eyeing the construction industry.

It helps that construction is a mega market of almost €2tn on the continent alone. But founders, and their investors, aren’t attracted only by market size. They’re betting on the impact of digital transformation in an industry that has been, so far, a sleeping giant.

Lindsay Baker named CEO of International Living Future Institute

Climate leader brings a focus on social justice and scaling impact to the world’s most ambitious, advanced, and holistic non-profit organization for buildings   August 3, 2021 (SEATTLE)—Today the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Board of Directors named Lindsay Baker as CEO, choosing a climate leader with deep experience in technology, real estate, and sustainability.   Ms. Baker is an environmentalist by background, a building scientist by training, and she’s been at g…

Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise

Heated saltwater swimming pools. Craft beer and cocktail bars. Pilates and wine tasting. There’s a lot more to today’s senior housing communities than the drab and dreary independent living and 55-plus properties of the past. Fortified by a lifetime of housing experiences and bolstered by decades of income and retirement savings, baby boomers remain renters of choice, and, as they consider senior living options, they’re revealing themselves as discerning rental customers with a housing budget to…

Digital twins predicted to bring major cost-savings for urban planners

ABI Research reckons digital twins will become the ultimate tool for city governments to design, plan and manage their connected infrastructure and achieve cost-savings of $280bn by 2030.