This Week in PropTech - 6.5.20
The Future of AirBnB
If you only listen to one thing this week, tune in to Kara Swisher’s interview (link below in Listen) with Brian Chesky - the CEO of AirBnB. I know that technically this is from last week, but I’m just getting to it.
The interview is interesting for several reasons.
First, hearing Brian’s thought process in the tradeoffs of taking money from investors (this time as debt and not equity) is a master class in late-stage investing and startup management. Taking debt from Silver Lake to give AirBnB the runway for an IPO (whenever) was a great move for both parties.
Second, Brian shares a ton of data on the current state of the travel industry. I was fascinated to learn that there are more homes for rent now than at the beginning of the pandemic but I’m not sure I buy that Pittsburgh is the new Paris.
Third, pay attention to how he thinks through product road map and the features they are focusing on going forward. Shelving an airline booking engine to enhance the entire booking experience for guests could not have been easy and was still (probably) the right move.
I will say that I noticed how often he used the “I” and “me” pronouns. There was a lot of “I haven’t decided” and “I haven’t made a grand announcement”, etc. I often see first-time leaders buying into the I-have-all-the-answers-because-I’m-in-charge narrative and more seasoned leaders tend toward always saying “we are working on” and “we decided”. Just something to keep an eye on if you are a long term investor in AirBnB (which I will be).
On to deals and data:
Fundings:
Vacasa, a Portland-based vacation rental platform, raised $108M led by Silver Lake.
Locus Robotics, a Boston warehouse robotics startups, announced a $40M series D round led by Zebra Ventures.
BetterView, a San Francisco drone property inspection company, raised $7.5M led by Manchester Story and a bunch of insurance companies.
Good Monday, a Copenhagen-based workplace management platform, raised $4M led by First Minute Capital.
Moderan, an Estonian property management software company, raised $303k led by Zenith Family Office.
Funds:
Paid members only.
Other News:
Glad to see the coworking operators coalescing to create a Workplace Operator Readiness Council.
In what is sure to be followed by most hotel brands, Oyo announced a “scrubbed clean” initiative to get guests back through the doors.
WeWork and Softbank just got sued for investor fraud.
Read:
Lisa Picard, CEO of Equity Office, wrote a great piece on The Future of Work isn’t fully remote or distributed.
Motley Fool gives their take on Big Tech vs Big Office.
TechRadar has an interesting read on your emotional connection with technology at work.
Back to the Office survey by Gensler.
RetailWire published an interesting read on changing supply chain (“decentralized fulfillment”) post COVID.
CityZenith published a white paper on The Impact of COVID 19 on Digital Twin Implementation.
Watch:
Nothing terribly interesting (in PropTech, at least) this week.
Listen:
Recode Decode has a great interview with Brian Chesky, AirBnB CEO, on what has happened in the last 9 weeks and what the future of short term stays looks like.
Thanks for reading!
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If you have any financings, articles, or suggestions for me, please send them to MKnight@blkhwk.com.