First American to buy Docutech for $350M
Title insurance giant First American has reached a deal to buy housing tech company Docutech for $350 million.
The deal should close by the end of March, and Docutech’s current management team, including president and CEO Amy Brandt, will stay on board to lead the company, according to HousingWire.
This Week in Real Estate Innovation
PROPTECH CORNER
Adam Neumann no longer has a vision for San Jose
Adam Neumann’s New Year’s resolution might have been to clean out his real estate portfolio. He’s now sold off his stakes in development properties in San Jose.
The former CEO of WeWork sold his personal stake in six properties in the Northern California tech hub that were supposed to be part of WeWork’s “future of cities” program, according to Bloomberg. His holdings could have been worth as much at $150 million.
Docket has raised US$8 million with Kaszek, ONEVC, Valor Capital, Canary, and Wayra | Contxto
In real estate there is tons of paperwork. And in an increasingly digital world, Kaszek Ventures, Canary, ONEVC, Valor Capital, and Wayra have been convinced by Brazilian legaltech, Docket’s approach to this problem, through their document managing platform.
And that’s why these venture capital (VC) firms have invested in the startup in different occasions. What was unknown before was the exact value of their investments.
Zillow launches tool to help Seattleites exiting homelessness find affordable housing | Geekwire
Zillow Group launched a new tool Thursday to help people experiencing homelessness in Seattle connect with affordable housing options. The tool is hosted on Zillow’s website and allows landlords with affordable units and caseworkers seeking housing for their clients to connect in one place.
Local non-profit Housing Connector and other homeless service providers can browse availability across locations, rather than the traditional process of searching property-by-property. Landlords that use Housing Connector have relaxed criteria that can make it difficult for people to secure housing, like a history of evictions or criminal offenses.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & ROBOTICS
Intuition Robotics raises $36 million to bring AI companions to everyone | Venture Beat
Israeli robotics startup Intuition Robotics has raised $36 million in a series B round of funding co-led by Sparx Group and OurCrowd, with participation from Samsung Next, Toyota AI Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, iRobot, Sompo Holdings, Union Tech Ventures, Happiness Capital, and Capital Point.
Clemson study employs AI to decipher ‘soft’ features of a home’s value | Clemson
CLEMSON, S.C. – Artificial Intelligence has shown measurable benefits to business, and a Clemson University researcher has found the real estate industry is one that would reap rewards by applying AI to determine a home’s true value.
Lily Shen, assistant professor of finance in the College of Business, said AI, or Machine Learning, would benefit investors and homeowners alike by accounting for “soft information,” such as heated floors or custom closets, in property advertisements that existing real estate models do not capture.
OPPORTUNITY ZONES
Big Philly landlord to cash in on some holdings, as ‘opportunity zone’ designation boosts values | The Philadelphia Enquirer
Drafters of the “qualified opportunity zone” provision of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law wanted to give investors an incentive to buy property in the nation’s poorest neighborhoods.
For Mark Nicoletti, it’s an incentive to sell some.
Nicoletti has put on the market nearly a quarter of the roughly two million square feet of commercial property owned in the city by his family’s Philadelphia Suburban Development Corp., more than half of it in areas designated as opportunity zones.
FUTURE OF WORK
Navigating AI’s expanding role in the world of HR | Human Resource Executive
The debate over artificial intelligence’s role in HR—from recruiting to workforce planning to performance—has become moot: There’s no doubt that AI has arrived and is expanding rapidly in the HR space. But, not so fast, some experts say. While AI represents a fantastic opportunity to drive HR success (and by extension, bottom-line growth), ethical issues tied to AI represent a potential dark side of these technologies.
The good news is, chief HR and people officers can successfully navigate this rapidly changing, growing trend by steering clear of those ethical speed bumps in the first place. They must take a smart, steady, planned approach to circumvent negative outcomes.
WHAT’S NEW IN BLOCKCHAIN?
Crypto Gamers Spent $1 Million on Virtual Land this Week | Bitcoinist
Blockchain technology has long been known to have many use cases within the video game sector, and gamers tend to be strong supporters of cryptocurrency. There now appears to be a clear connection between the market rebound and a major increase in crypto use within the gaming space.
Over the past seven days, a tremendous level of investment has taken place in the top virtual property platforms. Decentraland, the largest crypto-based virtual world, has experienced over $600,000 in trading volume as adopters are now racing to purchase virtual real estate in the blockchain-based digital world. Investors are also making significant investments in other platforms, such as The Sandbox and Cryptovoxels, pushing the total amount almost into the seven figures.
Flyt Property Brings First Tokenized Real Estate STO to Africa | Securities.io
This week marks another important milestone within the international security token sector as the African-based tokenization platform, Flyt Property announced plans to host the first-ever Tokenized Real Estate STO on the continent. The news demonstrates an acceleration in the adoption of tokenization across the global real estate market. Additionally, it symbolizes a major advancement for African markets moving forward.
