SoftBank’s Second Vision Fund Struggling To Attract Investors As First Fund Bleeds Leadership

SoftBank Group continues to suffer fallout from the conspicuous missteps of its venture fund. Michael Ronen has stepped down from his position as managing partner of U.S. investments at SoftBank Vision Fund, the Financial Times reports. Ronen said in an interview with FT that he had been negotiating the specifics of his departure for weeks after raising issues he had with the fund. Ronen joined SoftBank in 2017 from Goldman Sachs and has mainly led investments into transportation-based companies…

Impala raises $20 million to build the API of the hotel industry

Impala has raised another round of funding just a few months after raising an $11 million Series A round. This time, the startup is raising a $20 million Series B round led by Lakestar. Latitude Ventures is also participating in the round. The company is building a service that works pretty much like Plaid, but for hotel rooms. The hotel industry relies on old-school “property management systems” to manage rooms, room types, pricing, extras, taxes, etc. Instead of asking hotels to switch to an …

News Corp. Banking on Opcity After Quarterly Revenue Decline

“Key indicators for the property market are encouraging, and we expect to see improvements at Move [News Corp. owns Move, which is parent company of Realtor.com] in the second part of the year, largely due to the progress at Opcity,” he said. News Corp. acquired Opcity for $210 million in 2018 and rolled it out on Realtor.com last year. Opcity vets leads before it sends them to agents, and also collects a referral fee.

CoStar Group Agrees to Acquire RentPath from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGP) the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire RentPath’s business for $588 million in cash, in connection with RentPath’s recently announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. RentPath’s primary service is digital marketing for rental properties through a network of Internet listing websites, including Rent.com, ApartmentGuide.com, Rentals.com and Lovely.com. T…

Prodigy Investors Say They Are In The Dark Over Status Of Their Investments

More than five months after the founder of troubled real estate crowdfunding platform Prodigy Network stepped down, investors say the firm has gone quiet about its efforts to turn around faltering projects, leaving millions of dollars in investor funds hanging in the balance.

Taylor Wescoatt, Partner, Concrete VC to Speak on European PropTech Scene at Upcoming CREtech Austin Conference

New York, NY (February 13, 2020) —CREtech (cretech.com), the leading global conference and research company devoted to innovation in the Built World, will be highlighting the growing European proptech sector at it’s first event in 2020. CREtech has announced that Taylor Wescoatt, Partner at Concrete VC, and one of the most respected and leading Venture Capitalists in Europe will be one of the featured speakers in Austin, Texas on April 22nd and 23rd. In a session titled “An overview of the UK/Eu…

Here’s What To Expect At WeWork With Sandeep Mathrani In Charge

Mathrani starts his leadership post at WeWork Feb. 18, the company announced earlier this month. The former CEO of Brookfield Properties’ retail group is known for his turnaround of Chicago-based mall owner GGP following its 2010 bankruptcy and overseeing its $15B sale to Brookfield in 2018.  His experience in that financial recovery, as well as his relationships with landlords, investors and other real estate stakeholders are an asset to WeWork at a time when tenants want the office market to t…

WeWork’s Failed IPO Tempers Investor Confidence in Proptech

WeWork’s spectacular decline last year has dented investor confidence in the property-technology industry, according to a new survey. Only 45% of so-called proptech investors said they plan to make more investments in 2020 than in 2019, down from a high of 64% in the middle of last year. Co-working startup WeWork’s failed initial public offering helped the industry become more realistic about what works as a business model, said Aaron Block, co-founder of MetaProp NYC LLC, a New York-based ventu…

4 Accomplished Austin Startup Leaders Join LiveOak’s Venture Advisory Team

One of Austin’s most active venture capital firms is building up a new advisory program, and it has locked in four Austin startup executives to lead the way. LiveOak Venture Partners said its new Venture Advisors program is a more aggressive approach to what the firm is already doing as it advises portfolio companies and helps identify opportunities. Perhaps the most prominent name on the list is Lynn Atchison, an accomplished CFO who helped lead Hoovers and HomeAway through their IPOs and we…

App Keeps Tenants Updated on Rehab and Amenities