The nation’s biggest brokerages have invested almost $1.5B in proptech deals over the past 10 years. They know the world is changing, they know they need to stay ahead of that change, and they have put up real money to invest in the future. But what has that investment actually bought them?
JLL is excited to announce it has reached an agreement to acquire Boston-based Building Engines, the leader in building operations technology. The $300 million deal is slated to close toward the end of 2021 and will expand our offerings and technology leadership across the corporate real estate (CRE) industry.
Building Enginesâ cloud-based building operations platform, Prism, unites previously disparate technologies and processes into a single, easy-to-use solution. Prism integrates with more than 30 existing building operations toolsâincluding software that JLL uses and invests in through its Spark venture capital fund.
JLLâs deep industry experience and JLL Technologiesâ (JLLT) tech expertise, combined with Building Enginesâ innovative platform, promise to advance the digital transformation of corporate and commercial real estate.
Citing a âsignificant opportunity to scale adoptionâ amid the growth of hybrid working, JLL Spark has co-led a $9m fundraising round for software that connects access control across buildings around the world.
The faster and easier property managers (PMs), facility managers (FMs), engineers, and maintenance pros can find and order the products they needâespecially at preferred prices from top name brandsâthe better their buildings perform operationally and financially.
JLL Marketplace is an ecommerce platform that offers more than three million items curated for property management (PM) and facilities management (FM)âeverything from plumbing and electrical products to janitorial and office supplies.
The platform has secure online ordering with permission controls, approvals, detailed invoices, and flexible delivery options. You can order online and pick up in-store for your on-the-go needs.
Funding in the PropTech space is continuing at a feverish pace, and although VCs still contribute the lionâs share of the dollars being invested, the secret sauce to success may come in the form of strategic investors; specifically, investors who operate large businesses that can utilize the solution of the company that they are investing in. Think about a portfolio owner that has 30 commercial buildings totaling 15,000,000 square feet. If they invest in a company that has a solution that can be deployed throughout their portfolio, they can nearly guarantee the success of the company by acting not only as an investor, but also as the company’s largest customer.
Breakdowns in communication between facility managers and vendors are unfortunately commonplace and chip away at good professional relationships over time.
Duplicate orders alone are a persistent problem. An average of 1.5% of payments paid each year by organizations go to cover duplicate or incorrect orders, according to CFO.
Facility managers (FMs) are responsible for working through these miscommunications dailyâoften without support to make the process more manageable. But finely tuned tools for organizing and automating vendor management are within reach. Youâll typically find these solutions built into a comprehensive computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) such as Corrigo.
The number of real estate technology startups has increased 300% over the past decade, seizing the opportunity to address the industryâs biggest challenges through technology. Data released today by JLL (NYSE: JLL) suggests that opportunity continues to abound in the sectorâs startup landscape, with US$9.7 billion of funding activity in the first half of 2021, the most active first half on record. Additionally, the market shows signs of maturation as funding begins to shift toward established players and increasing consolidation drives the emergence of industry leaders.
Commercial real estate tenants and property managers have to abide by strict liability rules that any vendor entering the property must have insurance certificates and meet other requirements. The approval process for this currently can take days and is still largely done on paper.
Enter Jones. The New York-based commercial real estate startup is curating a marketplace of pre-approved vendors for tenants and property managers to find and hire the people they need in a compliant way.
To continue advancing its network, the company announced Monday it raised $12.5 million in Series A funding led by JLL Spark and Khosla Ventures that also included strategic investors Camber Creek, Rudin Management, DivcoWest and Sage Realty. This new investment brings Jonesâ total raised to $20 million, according to Crunchbase data.
Kitty Sullivan is a principal at JLL Spark, a strategic venture fund that invests in early stage proptech companies. She previously worked at carpooling startup Scoop, LinkedIn, and management consultancies Bain & Company and Monitor Group. She is passionate about mentoring and collaborating with startups of all sizes on strategy, business ops, and growth. She has a B.A. from Bowdoin College and an MBA from UC Berkeleyâs Haas School of Business.
Proptech investing started largely as a balance sheet cost for managers to drive efficiencies in their real estate portfolios. Today, it is the focus of a whole new wave of capital raising, highlighted by PERE’S inaugural Proptech 20 ranking.
