In the News — Foundry Group to Raise Largest Fund to Date
In The News rounds up the most important PropTech headlines from the last week and serves it to you with a side of insight and opinion. Hit us up on Twitter with your feedback!
Top Stories
Foundry Group To Raise 750M for Largest Fund to Date
A SEC form has appeared online with details that Foundry Group, the Boulder, CO based venture capital firm (and, of course, Estated’s beloved investors) are positioned to raise 750M in their newest investment fund.
This would be Foundry Group’s largest fund yet, and would amount in $2.35 billion raised in total. As a company currently in Foundry Group’s portfolio, Estated can say we are excited about the news and support the growth and expansion of the Foundry family.
While we can’t confirm anything just yet, we can anticipate some powerful partnerships on the horizon. Foundry Group’s previous ‘Next Fund’ raises have featured incredibly diversified and innovative companies, and if their track record is any indication, this partner fund will be one for the books.
Silver Lake Makes a $3B offer to Purchase Zoopla (ZPG)
UK property portal heavyweight Zoopla has received an offer from Silver Lake for a whopping $3 Billion. This amount is double the companies valuation in 2014 of $1.5B, and will be one of the biggest tech deals ever from across the pond.
Zoopla has dominated the UK market for quite some time with 50 million visits and 25, 000 businesses partnerships on its platform. Zoopla’s current business model provides an online portal where people can search for residential and commercial properties to buy or rent. The company’s unique referral and service program for real estate agents bolsters the service’s reach and visibility.
Silver Lake is a California-based mega capital fund with investments in Alibaba, GoDaddy and Tesla to name a few. Silver Lake has reportedly agreed a 490p a share bid for parent company ZPG.
Solar Panels to be Mandatory on all California Homes
This past Wednesday, the California Energy Commission (CEC) successfully voted on new standards making solar panels mandatory on all new homes built beginning in 2020.This mandate was unanimously approved by all five members on the commission, making California the first state in the US to require solar panels for homes.
The good news is, this new mandate will be an effective step to reduce greenhouse emissions and will simultaneously promote clean energy. The CEC provided an estimate that claims energy usage in the state will go down by 50 percent as a result of the mandate’s implementation.
The bad news is, this development will only push the prices of California homes skyward. The average price of a home went up 34.1 percent in just the last four years alone, with the average price of a home in California now clocking in at $1.2 Million.
California currently features the largest market for residential and commercial solar panels (and it’s not even close). In 2014, California produced more solar energy than the rest of the country combined.
Quick Hits:
CoreLogic Lands Distribution Deal With Montreal Based Company
CoreLogic announced a deal with Prospects Software Inc. out of Montreal to integrate its CRM and mobile solutions to CoreLogic’s existing MLS clients. This agreement will allow exclusive distribution to new users. Prospects’ solutions will be integrated in the already existing Matrix software.
Amazon and Lennar Announce Alexa Powered Smart Homes
Lennar, the largest home builder in the US, announced on Wednesday in partnership with Amazon that built-in Wi-Fi, smart locks, doorbells, thermostats and lights will all come built-in new homes.
Every home will come with two Alexa-enabled smart speakers, an Echo Show and an Echo Dot. Homeowners can expect a free visit from an Amazon technician for set-ups and tutorials.
Elon Musk and Kanye West are Getting into Real Estate
Kanye West has decided to take a break from contraversial political endorsements and tweets about clothing to announce an interest in architecture. Specifically, Kanye stated that his company Yeezy is actively looking for designers and architects to help him out.
Similarly, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that The Boring Company would repurpose the dirt from digging the tunnels in LA for the Hyperloop project for low-cost housing materials.
ICYMI:
The Danger and Delusion of Smart Cities
The name ‘Smart Cities’ lends itself to a problematic trend in technology and technology products over the last several years. Placing ‘Smart’ as a prefix to an existing concept or technology dates the old version of it, and leads consumers to believe they need to upgrade to the ‘smart’ version, or risk missing out on a plethora of new features and possibilities.
What is Estated?
This was our first foray into real estate and the first time that we recognized the opportunity gap in real estate information for homebuyers and the rest of the market. The goal behind the product is to not only show the concrete details like the sq. footage and the bed/bath count, but to also dive into the financial and physical history of the property, ultimately becoming an objective source of information — things you might not necessarily hear from a sales agent.
For more insight on #PropTech, data use-cases, and guides on home-buying/investing, check out our blog here.
