Investment and funding for PropTech gained momentum this week with PropTech firms Truss, Measurbl and Knock raising funding in Series A and B investment rounds in both debt and equity form.
The funding foretells an increasing interest from financial services marketplace to invest in commercial real estate technology and PropTech offerings.
PropTech firm Truss raises $ 15 million in Series A-2 funding round
Chicago-based Truss, a platform for touring and leasing co-working industrial and retail space, announced it raised $15 million in a Series A-2 funding from General Catalyst, along with Navitas Capital, Hyde Park Angels, and Hyde Park Venture Partners.
Truss’s funding follows strong earnings with 23 times revenue growth in the last 12 months.
The company, which has more than 300,000 office and industrial spaces on its marketplace, provides 3D virtual tours of property options helping tenants to visualize the space without the need for an in-person visit.
Truss continues to be of significant interest to CRE technology leaders including Robert Mylod, former Priceline executive and Redfin’s chairman, who will join the board of directors, and Jeff Boyd, former CEO of Priceline and managing director of Brothers Brook, who also participated in the round as an investor.
“The Truss marketplace offers small business owners greater speed, simplicity, and transparency in their search for new real estate. On the other side, Truss provides higher volumes and more qualified leads to brokers and owners,” said Adam Valkin, managing director at General Catalyst.
“The company’s momentum in its first nine markets, driven in part by its AI-driven chatbot interface, suggest that real value is being unlocked for all parties,” Valkin said.
Camber Creek’s Measurabl secures $18 million in Series B funding
Measurabl, a Camber Creek portfolio company, closed an $18 million Series B round led by Sway Ventures with participation from existing and new investors, including S&P Global.
With more than 7 billion square feet and 70 countries using the company’s ESG performance software, the company has gained keen interest from financial markets.
S&P Global, a leading provider of market intelligence, ratings, and financial indices, also participated in the round, underscoring the growing interest from the financial markets in Measurabl’s offering.
Doug Hodge, the former CEO of bond giant PIMCO and a Venture Partner at Sway Ventures, will join Measurabl’s Board.
“We’re heading towards a convergence where ESG indicators are held in comparable esteem to traditional financial metrics,” says Matt Ellis, Measurabl’s Founder and CEO.
“As this new market reality takes hold, every real estate transaction – from investment to lending, appraisal to insurance, leasing to capex – will require easy access to accurate ESG indicators. Measurabl is building the digital infrastructure to enable this market transformation,” said Ellis.
iBuying startup Knock raises $400 million
The online home0-buying startup Knock raised $400 million in funding in the form of both debt and equity led by venture capital firm The Foundry Group, and a number of existing and new investors.
The company will use the money to scale its trade-in program, which helps customers buy a new home before they list their old one for sale, according to co-founder Sean Black, who says that 90% of the company’s customers are using the trade-in program.
Knock made headlines last year when it announced it will buy consumers a new home even if they don’t already have one to sell.
Knock raised $32.5 million last year and now operates in Atlanta, North Carolina, and Dallas-Fort Worth; the company is planing an expansion to Phoenix in February, and four more locations later this year.
The investment demonstrates a significant appetite for PropTech companies developing technology to streamline the home-buying process despite sharing a competitive landscape with iBuying leaders like Opendoor and Offerpad, which have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to date.