STRATIS IoT Scales Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Companies List, Moving Up 148 Spots

Inc. magazine ranked STRATIS IoT on the 2019 Inc 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. STRATIS ranked 740th in its second consecutive year, moving up 148 spots. Only one in four companies ever achieves multiple years on the Inc 5000. In the past year, STRATIS has seen unprecedented growth with a 30% increase in units installed, currently totaling nearly 325,000 units in the U.S. and 18,000 internationally. With a new international expansion s…

No profitability? No problem. WeWork is poised for growth, SquareFoot CEO says

Some startups that once set up shop in a WeWork co-working office eventually grow large enough where they need bigger office space. That’s where SquareFoot comes in. The service acts as a hub for vacant offices. Backed by Rosecliff Ventures, RRE Ventures, Triangle Peak Partners and Armory Square Ventures, Squarefoot aggregates all open office spaces into one platform to help early-stage companies find the best option.

Flatfair, the ‘deposit-free’ renting platform, raises $11M led by Index Ventures

Flatfair, a London-based fintech that lets landlords offer “deposit-free” renting to tenants, has raised $11 million in funding. The Series A round is led by Index Ventures, with participation from Revolt Ventures, Adevinta, Greg Marsh (founder of Onefinestay), Jeremy Helbsy (former Savills CEO) and Taavet Hinrikus (TransferWise co-founder). With the new capital, Flatfair says it plans to hire a “significant” number of product engineers, data scientists and business development specialists….

Cities track citizens’ sentiment through social media

Monitoring social media feeds is a common practice for major brands and companies trying to keep up with consumer sentiment and tastes. City governments are now tapping into those data streams to keep tabs on residents’ chatter and complaints about what’s happening around town. Why it matters: Twitter and Facebook posts, when combined with other city tip lines and data collection tools, can be a gold mine of information about what citizens really think….

Making sense of the WeWork S-1 (or trying to)

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. Today is our promised Equity Shot (a short-form, single-topic episode) on the WeWork S-1. You can read Kate’s notes here, or Alex’s here as a place to start. Given that we didn’t know when the WeWork S-1 filing was going to make itself known, we put together this episode from TechCrunch’s SF HQ, Alex’s home office and Kate inside a New York Blue Bottle Coffee. W…

How will Amazon deliver packages by drone in tricky places? A new patent offers a clue.

Every once in a while, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) lets the world know what it might be planning — not in a public announcement but in a patent filing. The company has filed thousands of applications since its founding, and while many don’t go anywhere, some go on to disrupt long-existing industries. This week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued about 50 patents to the company, many of which Amazon applied for a years ago.

Keller Williams Expands iBuying Reach in Deal With Offerpad

Real-estate firm Keller Williams is joining with home-sales platform Offerpad, expanding its reach into the fast-growing market of algorithm-driven home sales. The realty franchise entered the all-cash, online sales market known as iBuying in May. The new agreement will give Offerpad first dibs any time a Keller Williams customer wants to sell to an iBuyer instead of putting their home on the open market.

VTS’s Nick Romito Is Riding High in Real Estate Data

Nick Romito got his first surfing sponsor at age 12, and was well on his way to a sun-drenched career riding the waves.

But when his college years rolled in, Romito, who would go on to co-found and become the CEO of VTS (formerly known as View the Space), received a sponsorship offer that left him with a difficult decision for a 17-year-old.

Are You Ready for Facial Recognition at the Airport?

Travelers have to face a new reality—their faces are rapidly becoming their IDs and boarding passes at airports. Facial recognition is rolling out at boarding gates for international flights at big airports in Europe, Asia and the U.S., even as privacy concerns about the technology grow. JetBlue is doing it in New York; Delta in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City, with the rest of its hubs added by the end of 2019. International airlines from new entrants like Norwegian to old hands…

Offerpad and Keller Williams team up amid iBuying craze

Amid an iBuying craze, Keller Williams and Offerpad are teaming up to buy and sell more homes. Through a new partnership, Keller agents will steer sellers seeking all-cash offers to Offerpad, the companies announced Wednesday. Offerpad, which looks to flip homes within a week to 10 days, will then enlist Keller agents to market the properties. In an increasingly crowded field of iBuyers, the companies said the partnership ensures that consumers don’t have to choose between using a real est…