Real Estate Startup Joins $1bn ‘Unicorn’ Club

New York-based commercial real estate tech firm VTS has raised $130 million in a Series D round of funding, believed to be the largest venture financing in the history of commercial real estate software.

The seven-year-old company has raised to nearly $290 million with analysts valuing the company at the unicorn level of $1 billion.

The company, which has a user base of over 35,000, plans to use the funds to enhance its platform both domestically and globally.

The leasing and asset management software for commercial real estate is the largest of its kind in the world, allowing real estate investors to track the lifeblood of their buildings or portfolio, which is leasing.

Landlords use VTS to maximise portfolio performance by transforming their leasing and asset management process and unlocking real-time insights, enabling them to convert leads to leases 41 per cent faster and build data-led strategies.

Brokers manage deal pipelines and get tenants into empty spaces faster, collaborate across teams and work easily with their landlord clients using VTS for brokers.

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VTS is also planning to use the money raised to accelerate the launch of its commercial real estate marketplace, Truva, which is slated to go live later this year.

The $130 million investment marks the first time several leading institutional real estate investors have made an investment of this magnitude in a property technology company.

This latest round, led by Brookfield Ventures, one of the company's largest customers, will enable VTS to accelerate the pace at which it builds its proptech for commercial real estate landlords, brokers, and tenants.

“VTS has been one of the most impactful technology platforms we’ve incorporated into our organisation and we are excited to be playing a part in their future,” Brookfield Ventures managing director Josh Raffaelli said.

“VTS’ market leading technology platform has transformed the way the industry operates, and we’re incredibly excited to partner with them in this new capacity.”

VTS’ market leading technology platform has transformed the way the commercial real estate industry operates, with many analysts tipping the potential for rapid growth within the commercial real estate sector as well as other real estate markets.

In 2016, VTS merged with its then competitor Hightower and grew square footage of office, retail, and industrial assets managed from a combined 2 billion to 10 billion at the end of 2018.

“This announcement signifies the clear shift that’s taking place in commercial real estate – never before have we seen the world’s leading owners playing such a key role in driving transformation in our industry,” VTS co-founder Ryan Masiello said.

“We believe the real winner here is the market as a whole, not just the individual players.”

The commercial real estate market potential is massive, with VTS corning a market that is valued at more than $21.5 trillion in the U.S. alone, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

The company claims that its software platform gives landlords the ability to “convert leads to leases” 41 per cent faster by building “data-led strategies.”

It also offers a benchmarking and analytics product called “MarketView.”