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.
- Big technology companies are cutting back on office space across major coastal cities, leaving some exposed landlords with empty buildings and steep losses. (WSJ)
- New York is nearing?a housing deal to confront the state's affordability crisis.?The agreement could clear the way for the construction of hundreds of thousands of homes and make it more difficult for landlords to evict renters. (NYT)
- Legal pressure is mounting on property-management software company RealPage, which is facing allegations that it illegally fixes apartment rent prices at buildings across the U.S. (WSJ)
- Adam Neumann opens up about his billion-dollar plan to transform apartment living and explains why he wants to buy back WeWork.?(Business Insider)?Neumann has also pulled back the curtain on his foray into multifamily investment,?launching?Flow?at two apartment buildings in South Florida. (Bisnow)
- The real "doom loop"?is the effect of housing prices on inflation, writes Franco Faraudo.?(Propmodo)
- Converting vacant office buildings to residential seems obvious, but the reality is much more complex. When do conversions actually make sense??(Thesis Driven)?
- An interview with Alon Gorbonos,?the founder and general partner of RE Angels, a real estate technology angel fund?focused on early stage startups.?(Tangent Proptech)
RAISES, BUILDS AND TEARDOWNS
- Guesty, a platform that lets accommodation managers manage their business online,?has raised $130M in a Series F funding that values Guesty at around $900M. (Techcrunch)
- Latin American ibuying startup?Habi, has received a?$30M loan to fuel middle-income home sales in Mexico and?Colombia. (Bloomberg)
- Kode Labs, which is developing a suite of software that digests data from various internet-connected parts of a building’s operation, has?raised a $30M Series B. (Techcrunch)
- Moderne Ventures, a strategic VC?and growth equity firm has announced its 2024 Spring Moderne Passport Class.?Selected?companies range from seed to Series C, and have raised over $678M+ in aggregate of funding with collective valuations of?$1.3B?to date. (Press Release)
- Honey Insurance, which?uses?artificial intelligence and smart home sensors to bring down home insurance premiums,?has landed $108M?in Series A funding.?(Australian Financial Review)
- Real estate tech?platform?VTS?has launched a?new resident experience technology offering, VTS Activate Multifamily. (Press Release)
- Ryse, a marketplace aimed at bridging the gap between real estate operators and capital markets investors, has?announced a $500,000 pre-seed investment. (CRETI)
- CRE?owner Hines?has made its first build-to-rent acquisition, purchasing Blu South, a community under construction near Charlotte, NC.?(Multifamily Dive)
- Leasecake, a lease and location management solution?for multi-unit operators, has closed a $10M Series A extension round.?(Press Release)
- Quilt, which is building a next-generation heat pump,?has raised a $33M?Series A round. (Techcrunch)
- Real estate ESG data management platform?Measurabl?has announced that Chris Zegal is joining as Senior VP of Marketing. The company also recently hired Andrea LeMay as Director of Go-to-Market Strategy.
NEWLY POSTED JOBS IN REAL ESTATE & TECH
Thanks for featuring us in your weekly newsletter! We are very excited to partner with you for this year's upcoming conference in September. See you all in Vegas!