Curated daily by our industry experts. Stay informed on how tech is shaping the real estate industry with these important headlines.
UKTECH
Pioneering proptech VC, Pi Labs, has announced a strategic £2.5 million investment from leading pan-European real estate fund manager, Revcap, into the Pi Labs business. The funding was secured to support Pi Labs’ expansion internationally, to grow its multidisciplinary team of real estate, finance, and technology professionals, and to invest into its platform.
TECHEU
Apsiyon, an Istanbul-based property management software, has raised $5 million in a round led by Earlybird VC’s Digital East Fund with participation from angel investor Jak Baruh. The company plans to use the funds for international expansion, regional acquisitions, and fuel for becoming an all-around marketplace of lifestyle services for residents.
TECHCRUNCH
Lime is pausing its electric scooter operations in California and Washington, as well as throughout the countries of Italy, France and Spain to help keep riders safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Like you, we are worried about the cities we love and call home, the people we serve, and our colleagues on the ground,” Lime wrote in a blog post today. “Loving cities means protecting them too. For now, we’re pausing Lime service to help people stay put and stay safe.”
CROWDFUNDINSIDER
KlickOwn has launched its first security token offering for real estate in Germany. Launched in mid-2019, the first digital security is for a building based in Lüneburg, Germany. The offering is debt-based seeking up to €1.5 million. As of today, the offering has raised over €350,000. Investors may anticipate a 5% annual rate of return on a “token-based bond.” The offering will accept as little as €10.
TECHCRUNCH
We need to go hands-off in the age of coronavirus. That means touching fewer doors, elevators, and sign-in iPads. But once a building is using phone-based identity for security, there’s opportunities to speed up access to WIFI networks and printers, or personalize conference rooms and video call set-ups. Keyless office entry startup Proxy wants to deliver all of this while keeping your phone in your pocket.
CBRE
To join CBRE & Openpath’s upcoming call “Surviving vs. Thriving: Tips for Pivoting to a Remote Workforce in Real-Time” you must register below. Once your RSVP is confirmed, you will receive a follow-up email with the webinar login information. For questions, please contact Marie Razon: marie.razon@cbre.com | 213-613-3209. …
WSJ
SoftBank Group Corp.is backing away from part of its planned bailout of WeWork, people familiar with the matter said, privately citing several regulatory investigations of the office-sharing company. A notice sent to WeWork shareholders Tuesday said that SoftBank believes regulatory probes into the startup’s business, including from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department, give it an out under the deal struck last fall to purchase $3 billion of WeWork shares from existing i…
WSJ
As the coronavirus pandemic shuts down whole sectors of the economy and cuts equity valuations by trillions of dollars, startups are racing to set up contingency plans, shore up their balance sheets with fresh funds, even appealing to customers to just keep buying. It is a sudden reversal from the decadelong bull market, when abundant capital encouraged aggressive spending to fuel growth.
VENTUREBEAT
Nokia may be best known for cellular phones, but in recent years the Finnish company has focused on networking hardware — the radios and infrastructure that connect cellular devices to the internet. Today, Nokia announced that it’s augmenting its Worldwide Internet of Things Network Grid (WING) with new 5G capabilities, enabling cellular carriers to offer global-scale 5G IoT services to customers without building out their own networks.
CRUNCHBASE
Last week, Sequoia Capital distributed a memo to founders and CEOs of its portfolio companies about the worsening economic situation as coronavirus spreads, CNBC and many other media outlets reported. I’ve also seen posts all over Twitter from people cautioning about a slowdown in VC funding and reacting with concern to the tumultuous state of the public markets.
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