New York property firm SquareFoot to open Belfast office, creating 25 jobs

A New York-based commercial property company is set to open a new software development centre in Belfast, creating 25 jobs. Economy Minister Diane Dodds met SquareFoot in the Big Apple to mark the announcement at the start of her week-long visit to the US.

3-D-printed homes: A concept is turning into something solid

The evolution of CRE tech & why it’s primed for success

It’s no secret that we’re experiencing rapid technological changes across all industries, making our lives easier and businesses more efficient. CREtech (commercial real estate technology), also known as proptech (property technology), has seen a significant boom with more and more startups focused on digitizing aspects of the commercial real estate market.

Brandless, Outdoor Voices, and Away: How Venture Capital Ruined a Generation of Direct-to-Consumer Startups

Even if you don’t know who Ty Haney is, if you’ve spent any time on Instagram you probably know her company by osmosis. Outdoor Voices, with its millennial branding and muted pastel athleisure-wear, is social-media bait. Searching the company’s hashtag, #DoingThings, surfaces images of young women, including Haney, breezily baring their midriffs while walking their dogs, hiking, or doing yoga, dressed in Outdoor Voices’ color-blocked leggings, skorts, and sports bras….

Zumper raises $60M to double down on tech to grow its apartment rentals platform

The apartment rental market in the US will be worth $174.1 billion this year, and today a startup that’s built a platform to help it along by connecting renters with rentals is announcing a round of funding to fuel its growth. Zumper, which provides listings of available rental properties and services (such as rent payments) to help manage landlords’ rental businesses, has raised $60 million, money that CEO and co-founder Anthemos Georgiades said it plans to use to continue both expanding its fo…

Vienna-based PlanRadar raises €30M in Series A funding to transform construction and real estate

Construction and real-estate industry is going through a slump from some time now. However, that hasn’t stopped the Vienna based startup PlanRadar from securing €30 million in Series A round of funding. The PropTech startup offers an easy, fast and efficient SaaS solution for digital documentation and communication in construction and real estate projects. The company’s offering is available across various platforms like Android, iOS and also via popular web browsers.

Europe’s A/O PropTech Fund Makes Waves in VC World

A new European venture capital (VC) fund dubbed A/O PropTech launched a month ago promising €250 million euro in “permanent capital” investment for disruptive proptech companies. The fund is a “first of” investing approach which is structured more like a corporate shareholder arrangement, rather than your typical VC fund. According to A/O PropTech, this more permanent approach makes for a more patient and flexible investor/startup interaction.

HaulHub Helps Run Heavy Construction Logistics Operations At The Touch Of A Button

The freight industry has seen several digital freight marketplaces in recent years, claiming to connect carriers with shippers and promising to expedite logistics-related transactions. Digital freight marketplaces often function on the premise that brokerages are replaceable and that supplanting brokers with machine learning algorithms will enable seamless logistics.

Goodlord, the proptech startup that offers a SaaS for rentals, has raised £10M in Series B funding

Goodlord, the London proptech startup that offers cloud-based software to help estate agents, landlords and tenants manage the rental process, appears to have achieved somewhat of a turnaround after it fell into difficulty two years ago. Since then, the company installed a new CEO and CTO, and raised further funding. Today Goodlord is announcing its next milestone: £10 million in “Series B” funding.

Austin is ground zero for the 3-D printed home

Austin-based builder Icon is finishing work on the first of six “3D-printed” homes part of a 51-acre development for the chronically homeless in the city called Community First Village, according to the Washington Post. The company also “printed” the structure for a welcome center at the development in 27 hours.