Welcome to The Print, Blueprint's weekly curation of the most important things going on in real estate and construction technology. We hope our newsletter will keep you informed as we shine a light on the newest innovations and opportunities that exist in the built world.
- The Biden administration has?awarded $6B?for demonstration projects that aim to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industrial sectors, including cement.?(Canary Media)?In the race to find alternatives, some companies are using concrete?to sequester CO2 instead.?(Wired)?
- Blackstone President Jon Gray says real estate prices are bottoming, and sees a great opportunity to move fast and buy assets at beaten-down prices.?(Bloomberg)?
- Adam Neumann, the former chief executive and co-founder of WeWork, recently submitted an offer to buy the bankrupt co-working company for more than $500 million.?(WSJ)
- The value of office commercial real estate will likely plunge 26% by the end of next year, according to Moody's?Analytics. (Construction Dive) With U.S. office markets are suffering from soaring vacancy rates,?why are office rents are holding steady or even climbing??(WSJ)?
- Major real estate companies have been slow to decarbonize — leaving an opportunity for fintechs and financiers to speed up the process, says Fifth Wall CEO Brendan Wallace.?(Axios) A?residential tower at 505 State Street?in Downtown Brooklyn will be the city’s first all-electric building. (NYT)
- The Justice Department is reportedly?looking into the possibility that RealPage is facilitating price-fixing among some of the large residential property owners and management firms that use the company’s product. (Politico)
- Many operators with new real estate concepts see "building a new asset class"?as the ultimate aspiration of brick-and-mortar innovation. With it comes investor interest, legitimacy, and — ultimately — asset-level appreciation.?(Thesis Driven)?
- Among publicly traded real estate companies, traditional brokerages, especially cloud-based ones, remain the least unprofitable — while the disruptors and tech companies continue to struggle with sustained profitability.?(Mike DP)
- A survey of the?AI virtual staging companies you need to know. (Proptech Consulting)
RAISES, BUILDS AND TEARDOWNS
- Vacation home co-ownership platform Pacaso is attempting to appeal to the masses, The company is now introducing thousands more listings with share prices starting as low as $200,000.?(CNBC)?
- Compass has agreed to?to pay $57.5M to settle commission lawsuits, and will make some minor changes to its business practices as part of the settlement. (Inman)
- Schneider Electric is collaborating with NVIDIA to optimize data center infrastructure and produce reference designs for data center artificial intelligence and digital twin technologies. (Facilities Dive)
- Cemvision, a Swedish company re-inventing cement for sustainability, has announced a €10M seed round. (EU Startups)
- Proptech startup FLK it over has raised $2.5M?as it looks to expand beyond real estate with its electronic document signing solutions.?(Startup Daily)
- RealSage, an AI-driven decision-making software platform for multifamily owners and operators, has closed a $4M seed round.?(Commercial Observer)
- SF-based WeWork rival Codi?is expanding its "office-as-a-service"?platform to Los Angeles.?(Commercial Observer)
- Monaire, a startup that uses AI to curb waste and emissions from small commercial buildings, raised $3.5M in seed funding.?(FINSMES)
- Brick & Mortar Ventures, one of the leading AEC sector-focused funds,?is in growth mode. The VC firm?has recruited former Vinci innovation leader Guillaume Bazouin to open?a Paris office.?(Built Worlds)
NEWLY POSTED JOBS IN REAL ESTATE & TECH
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