Sugar, a startup that aims to turn apartment buildings into “interactive communities,” has closed on $2.5 million in seed funding. A slew of investors participated in the financing, including MetaProp, Agya Ventures, Concrete Rose, Debut Capital, The Community Fund, Consonance Capital, Lightspeed Scout Fund and Jason Calacanis’ LAUNCH syndicate. Also participating were angel investors such […]
ICON lands $207M Series B to construct more 3D-printed homes after seeing 400% YoY revenue growth
Creating single-family homes for the homeless using 3D printing robotics. Developing construction systems to create infrastructure and habitats on the moon, and eventually Mars, with NASA. Delivering what is believed to be the largest 3D-printed structure in North America — a barracks for Texas Military Department. These are just some of the things that Austin, […]
Plentific cements $100M to expand its property management SaaS
London based Plentific, which operates a marketplace SaaS platform targeting the property management space, has closed a $100 million Series C. The funding round is led by new investors Highland Europe and Brookfield Technology Partners — the VC arm of the eponymous real estate giant — along with Mubadala Investment Company and RXR Digital Ventures, […]
From 1m trees to a tree graveyard: how Dubai’s conservation plans went awry
Hundreds of thousands of trees have died after costly real estate projects thwarted attempts to halt desertificationIt all began so beautifully, with the ruler of Dubai photographed planting the first tree of his ambitious environmental initiative, as …
Kapacity.io is using AI to drive energy and emissions savings for real estate
Y Combinator-backed Kapacity.io is on a mission to accelerate the decarbonization of buildings by using AI-generated efficiency savings to encourage electrification of commercial real estate — wooing buildings away from reliance on fossil fuels to power their heating and cooling needs. It does this by providing incentives to building owners/occupiers to shift to clean energy […]
London’s West End is recovering from Covid crisis, says Shaftesbury
Chinatown, Soho and Covent Garden landlord says office workers and overseas tourists are yet to returnCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageShaftesbury, the central London landlord that owns parts of Chinatown, Soho and Covent Gar…
Disinfection robots and thermal body cameras: welcome to the Covid-free office
A workplace in Bucharest filled with anti-virus innovations could become the new normal in office design, its creators hopeExplainer: what are UK workers’ rights when asked to return?Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNot so lo…
The Guardian view on high pay: the fat cats are still there | Editorial
Vast disparities in income may have lost some of their power to shock. But they remain a gross injusticePublic anger about the vast salaries extracted from business by the highest-paid people surfaces less often than one might expect, given highly cons…
São Paulo’s QuintoAndar real estate platform raises $120M, now valued at $5.1B
Less than three months after announcing a $300 million Series E, Brazilian proptech QuintoAndar has raised an additional $120 million. New investors Greenoaks Capital and China’s Tencent co-led the round, which included participation from some existing backers as well. São Paulo-based QuintoAndar is now valued at $5.1 billion, up from $4 billion at the time […]
Lloyds plans big move into UK rental market with 50,000 homes
Banking group joins other high street names seeking a fresh income at a time of record low interest ratesIt is already the UK’s largest mortgage lender, and now Lloyds Banking Group aims to become one of its biggest private landlords, with a target of …