Big companies investing in startups
It’s no surprise that Uber, Instagram and Buzzfeed are attracting big-name technology investors. The three upstart businesses are rattling the cages of established industries and possess an undeniable ‘cool’ factor. But what may surprise some is that many of the early backers of these companies are also betting big on startups in the New York real estate scene.
Josh Kushner’s venture capital firm Thrive Capital, a backer of Uber and Instagram, is also an investor in leasing platform Hightower, real estate marketplace Honest Buildings and residential brokerage Urban Compass.
Founder Collective, which backs Buzzfeed, also bankrolls office search marketplace 42Floors and real estate information firm CompStak.
This cross-pollination by investors, sources said, shows that real estate is now truly on the tech industry’s radar.
“For too long, the real estate and tech industries were not communicating with each other and that’s what’s really changed over the past few years, ” said Jared Kushner, CEO of Kushner Companies and an active player in the space through an investment in Thrive. “As a result, tech startups are starting to solve important problems, which has led to the creation of better companies and more investor interest.”
That interest is translating into a lot of cash, too. Globally, real estate tech startups pulled in more than $740 million in funding between July 2012 and July 2014, as The Real Deal reported last month. That number doesn’t take into account recent capital raisings in New York, such as Urban Compass’ million Series B funding round and Hightower’s .5 million Series A round.
Given this surge in investment, TRD took a look at some of the individuals betting big on the city’s hottest real estate startups.
David Frankel, Founder Collective
Investor in: 42Floors, Lovely, CompStak
At 23, Frankel founded Internet Solutions, which went on to become the largest internet service provider and private data carrier in his native South Africa. In 2000, the newspaper Financial Mail named him the South African Technology Achiever of the Century. Now based in Boston, Frankel serves as a managing partner at investment firm Founder Collective, most well-known for its early-stage investments in companies such as BuzzFeed, Uber and 3D printing-firm MakerBot.
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