Greetings from week 241 (or something like that) of the global lockdown.
This week, it looks like venture funds and tech companies are starting to get accustomed to the pace and cadence of the COVID-induced spread of the workforce. Tons of interesting deals and announcements across my desk this week. (Some of them are below.)
Many of the largest tech companies like Twitter and Spotify announced permanent remote work arrangements with some or all of their employees.
Apple, on the other hand, is finding its hardware more difficult to work on remotely and is bringing employees back into the office.
As usual, tech companies are going to lead the way on what the future of work (remote or otherwise) will look like post-COVID. And while I do expect the majority of CRE and construction firms to go back to almost exactly the same arrangement they had before, I am hearing from some very interesting owners, managers, developers, contractors, and architects that are rethinking their entire work flows.
More directly, they are looking at their P&L for 2020 and seeing how large of a fixed cost that pesky “Rent” line item is and how they are 70/80/90% as productive with zero employees in the office as they are with all of their employees in the office.
I’m super curious to see how the Innovators in our space deal with that reality and trade off. If you have a story about how your company is planning an office arrangement post-COVID, I’d love to hear it.
Notable happenings this week . . .
Financings:
States Title, a mortgage closing tech company, closed on a massive $123M round led by Greenspring Associates.
Matterport, a 3D capture software for construction and virtual tours, raised $40M from DCM, Lux, Navitas, and others after I had heard they were burning tons of cash. Looks like it coincides with slashing 1/3rd of their staff!
Envoy, the workplace access system, raised $30M.
Volum, a Paris-based rental workflow management tool, raised $1.5M from Newfund and angels.
Funds:
I’m hearing Moderne is back in the market with a new fund and that they have already closed on $25M. Good luck to Constance and team! Post-COVID fundraising can’t be fun for anyone.
Reading:
Cognizant published a report on the future of work and claims that telework can save companies $11,000 per worker per year and commuters $7,000 per year!
BI has an interesting look into what hotels are doing with technology and other practices to get you back through their doors.
Say hello to the post-COVID office.
Emerging Tech has a solid, approachable primer on 5G.
The RICS (UK) published their PropTech survey results.
Retail Innovation (UK) has 20 startups changing retail.
Check out this nerdy/awesome guide to 3D printing software.
Other News:
Apparently WeWork is now worth $2.9 Billion. That’s down from a peak of $47B just last year! Ouch.
On a related note, Softbank’s Vision Fund I officially closed its investment period in September and spent more than $100M dollars EVERY DAY of its existence.
Bloomberg thinks people will be leaving Silicon Valley post-COVID because the rent is just too high.
Looks like Canary Technologies has joined the growing list of contactless check in for hotels.
Checkpoint Technologies has created SmartTemperature to check the temperature of customers in retail settings.
Let’s not pretend that COVID is what led to the fall of Pier 1.
Standard Cognition, the tech behind cashierless shopping, acquired a competitor in Italy this week.
Finally, let’s talk about Elon Musk.
Thanks for reading.
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If you have any financings, articles, or suggestions for me, please send them to MKnight@blkhwk.com.