Hello Alfred Acquires Building Managament Platform Bixby

DCA Live: NextGen Real Estate Leaders

Get back to business this fall by joining DCA Live and our host committee to celebrate the great emerging real estate talent in the DC region and the strong community that has supported their success.  We’ll honor this group of developers, brokers, designers, property managers, investors, lenders and all the others who are creating value and paving the way for continued growth in the region.  Come enjoy great food and drink and a chance to meet dozens of leaders from DC’s real estate and busines…

NMHC Launches 2019 Innovation Challenge and New Online Innovation Portal

Washington, D.C. – The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) today announced the opening of the second annual Apartment Industry Innovation Challenge, in conjunction with the launch of a new multifamily innovation web site. The site seeks to bring apartment operators, startups, legacy technology providers, venture capitalists and anyone interested in PropTech, RentTech, FinTech and ConstrucTech together. “As the leadership of the trillion-dollar apartment industry, NMHC is committed to …

MRI Software Acquires AI Real Estate Pioneer LEVERTON to Turn Unstructured Data into Business Insights

Acquisition of global PropTech innovator with market-leading lease abstraction solution strengthens MRI’s end-to-end offering, while saving clients time and money  Solon, Ohio – July 31, 2019 – MRI Software (“MRI”), a global leader in real estate software solutions, announces that it has acquired LEVERTON, a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-powered data extraction solution for real estate and corporate documents. The acquisition bolsters MRI’s comprehensive and flexible offering and gives p…

Elliman hires new chief marketer ahead of rebranding, lead-generation platform launch

Douglas Elliman’s got a new chief marketing executive on deck just in time for a companywide rebranding and the launch of a new digital platform for agents. Stephanie Garbarini, a fashion executive who’s worked at Barneys New York, J.Crew and, currently, Dressbarn, will be joining the brokerage’s corporate leadership team as vice president of marketing in August, according to Elliman’s COO Scott Durkin.

The Path to a Hyperconnected City

For this Present Value post, we asked our research coalition behind Building a Hyperconnected City to offer their perspectives on the future of smart city solutions. Businesses and residents are embracing technological innovation faster than many cities can reach. These professionals and thought leaders span multiple industries and locations across the globe, providing a holistic view to creating an interconnected urban ecosystem….

Toronto’s tech boom is transforming the city

The Canadian Encyclopedia notes that Toronto’s economy has gone through many phases over the city’s history: “commercial lake port, railway and industrial hub, financial nexus and high-level service and information centre.” Each phase has changed the shape of the city. Wharves sprang up along the harbourfront to handle shipping traffic, sprawling rail yards to handle the trains. Factories and warehouses rose for the booming furniture and textile industries. Decades later, when those industries …

Minut raises $8M Series A for its camera-less home security device

Minut, a Swedish startup that has developed a camera-less home security device that it claims protects privacy better than competitors, has raised $8 million in Series A funding. The round is led by KPN Ventures, with participation from international energy and services company Centrica. Existing backers Karma Ventures, SOSV and Nordic Makers also followed on, bringing total funding for Minut to $10 million….

Compass makes new agents sign Silicon Valley-grade contracts

In the dog-eat-dog world of residential brokerage, Compass appears to be playing defense. Of nine real estate brokerages The Real Deal surveyed in New York City, only the $4.4 billion SoftBank-backed firm seems to take pains to clarify what agents cannot bring to the firm when they join. Specifically, Compass requires all newly hired agents sign an agreement that defines what proprietary, confidential data belongs to its competitors. If that data or information isn’t left behind, the contr…

Bosch and Daimler obtain regulatory approval for level 4 self-parking system

Cars that can park themselves aren’t anything out of the ordinary, but Bosch and Daimler claim they’ve accomplished something of a world’s first with their system. The two companies today jointly announced that the Stuttgart regional administrative authority and Baden-Württemberg state transportation ministry, following an assessment by German certification authority TÜV Rheinland, have approved their smartphone-controlled automated valet for use in the Mercedes-Benz Museum parking garage in Stu…