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.
We are focused sustainability this week at Blueprint, and we thought it would be great to catch up with The Neutral Project's CEO & Partner?Nate Helbach, who explained how his company?is leveraging sustainable construction materials to build carbon-neutral structures. He tells us about the "missing middle" in construction, and how The Neutral Project is helping with that as well. ?
- The new rule of home buying. Now more than ever, it's time to be your own real estate agent. (Business Insider)
- The country’s top apartment builder,?Summit Contracting Group, says business is picking up?but?construction price increases are here to stay.?(Construction Dive)?U.S. single-family housing starts declined by 12.4% in March 2024.?(Construction World)
- Why the AI industry's thirst for new data centers can't be satisfied. (WSJ)
- Big CRE firms are continuing to invest?in proptech.?They're not only looking for upside, but also to fill tech gaps they have in their operations. (Globe St.)?Proptech investment is way down — but these 4 areas still see demand.?(Inman)
- Between 2021 and 2023, the CEOs of real estate’s largest public companies had highly varied upside from the sale of company stock – ranging from $145 million to $0 – while their companies had massive financial gains and losses. (MikeDP)
- Almost all the major real estate players?shout from the rooftops about their energy transition — but?in reality, only the true tech adopters have been driving change?in recent years.?(Proptech Connection)
RAISES, BUILDS AND TEARDOWNS
- CoStar has agreed?to acquire 3D scanning company Matterport for $1.6B. Matterport's board of directors unanimously approved the deal, which will?be finalized later this year.?(Inman)
- EquipmentShare, a prominent equipment rental and asset management company, has announced the successful closure of a $600M offering of senior secured second lien notes.?(CRETI)
- WeWork has?turned?to SoftBank and?Yardi?to fend off a takeover bid from former CEO Adam Neumann.?(Bisnow)
- Second Century Ventures, the?strategic investment arm of the National Association of Realtors?and an active global real estate technology fund, announced the eight companies selected to participate in the 2024 REACH program. (VC Wire)
- Homium, a real-estate equity mortgage lender and securitization platform, has officially launched its first tokenized home equity loans using the Avalanche blockchain, and has raised a $10M Series A round.?(CRETI)
- Rivet Work, which provides an electrical construction workforce management platform, has raised $6M in funding.?(FINSMES)
- Accacia, a decarbonization platform focusing on real estate and infrastructure, has closed a $6.5M?pre-Series A round.?(Press Release)
- Homie,?a company that promised to cut costs for homebuyers by offering a flat fee to sellers,?is stripping its brokerage services and ending employment for its real estate agents.?(Salt Lake Tribune)
- RealPage, a provider of software and data analytics to the real estate industry, has announced its?new Lumina?AI Platform for multifamily.?(Press Release)
- G.M. Nicholas “Magnus” Vik and Jeremy Fox have been named co-presidents of Fifth Wall. The pair will helm the firm alongside co-founders Brendan Wallace and Brad Greiwe. (Commercial Observer)
- J.P. Morgan?announced that Chad Tredway has rejoined the firm as the incoming Head of Real Estate Americas, J.P. Morgan Asset Management.?(Press Release)
NEWLY POSTED JOBS IN REAL ESTATE & TECH
