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Why real estate startups are hot right now, according to a top VC – Fortune

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Good morning. Finance writer Anne Sraders here, filling in for Jessica. 

Flow, the new residential real estate startup from infamous WeWork founder Adam Neumann, ruffled feathers this week after Andreessen Horowitz announced on Monday that it had funded it—shoveling $350 million into Flow, per The New York Times. The most eye-catching part of the announcement was, of course, the founder, Neumann. His previous startup WeWork bungled its first attempt at an IPO, cost investors billions of dollars, and ultimately ejected Neumann in Hollywood-worthy fashion

But like WeWork, the new startup is tethered to real estate—a seemingly increasingly hot area for venture capitalists. Over the years startups have popped up looking to solve or build on disparate corners of the real estate market, whether by offering community-focused residential spaces (like Neumann’s Flow apparently intends to, with a concept some are comparing to dorm rooms for adults—as well as, potentially, crypto?) or pitching fractional real estate investing. 

But the reason why some VCs are funneling cash into the sector isn’t simply because home prices have soared in recent years. Brian O’Malley, partner at Forerunner Ventures, told me this week that instead, they’re trying to address a deeper dissatisfaction (and dysfunctions) among consumers and investors. 

As investors, “we’re trying to be less focused on timing the market and what might look great in the next six months, and to be more focused on, ‘What systematic change do people want to have happen over the next decade or two?’” O’Malley says. “The relationship people have with their housing isn’t exactly what they maybe want anymore.” 

Forerunner has invested in a couple real estate-tied startups, most recently Arrived, a company that enables everyday investors to purchase shares in single-family rental properties and receive dividends in return. Forerunner led the company’s $25 million Series A round in May (in total, the startup has raised roughly $71 million, per PitchBook data). Other backers of Arrived include Jeff Bezos’s investment company Bezos Expeditions; PSL Ventures; and Spencer Rascoff, the cofounder and former CEO of Zillow. On theme, Forerunner also invested in Homebound, a tech-enabled homebuilding platform, back in 2018. 

According to O’Malley, real estate is, if not the largest, “one of the largest personal expenditures that [people] have, and there’s not been a lot of technology applied to change the way the business works. What’s exciting about that is that you’re looking at, you know, ultimately trillions of dollars of spend and an opportunity for change.” That’s “what’s got us excited,” he says. 

O’Malley suggests that unlike other industries, real estate has not seen big productivity gains over recent decades. “Building things is not getting cheaper, regulation is getting more complicated, the actual financing component is still, you know, a bit of a small ecosystem of the people that were always able to finance these properties,” he notes. “The way that you buy houses, the way that you rent properties—it hasn’t really changed with other categories,” like transportation (think Uber) or restaurants (think Toast), he added. 

There are clearly “different approaches to the general concept,” notes O’Malley; just look at startups like Neumann’s Flow or Arrived, aimed at tackling very different problems. And even with other competitors that focus on fractional ownership within real estate, like Fractional and LEX (the latter of which raised $15 million in January), O’Malley argues it could be more of a “rising tide” to lift all boats, as the startups take different approaches to the market. 

Of course, fractional investing in real estate isn’t new. “The pitch is not that this is a get rich quick, put all your money in this and see what happens,” O’Malley suggests of startups like Arrived. “It’s like, ‘Hey, this is an important part of a balanced portfolio,’ and some level of exposure, especially the kinds of exposure we’re getting [with Arrived], which…is not highly leveraged and is dividend-focused, is healthy for everyday investors.” 

What first comes to my mind is the host of big risks out there—not least a possible upcoming recession, rising interest rates, still-constrained housing supply, and a cooling residential market. Meanwhile some have raised concerns about the model of taking home properties (which people might buy to live in) off the inventory-constrained market when buying up single-family homes for such startups—the worry being that buying property to rent for investors could make homes more unaffordable for everybody else. (In defense of Arrived, O’Malley notes that “unlike other players in the market, Arrived isn’t bringing institutional money to compete with local buyers.”)   

But VCs like O’Malley believe there’s a lot of change right now in how people are living and working, and “with those challenges comes opportunity.” “The category is still nascent,” he says. 

We’ll have to see if these startups, like the properties they’re focused on, are built to last. 

Anne Sraders
Twitter: @AnneSraders
Email: anne.sraders@fortune.com
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Jackson Fordyce curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

DriveNets, a Ra’anana, Israel-based cloud-native networking solutions provider, raised $262 million in Series C funding. D2 Investments led the round and was joined by investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Pitango, D1 Capital, Atreides Management, and Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services.

Orna Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based RNA therapies biotechnology company, raised $221 million in Series B funding. Merck, MPM Capital, BioImpact Capital, and others invested in the round.

HiBob, a New York and Tel Aviv-based HR platform, raised $150 million in Series D funding. General Atlantic led the round and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners and others.

VidMob, a New York-based advertising platform for brands, raised $110 million in Series D funding led by Shamrock Capital

Bevi, a Boston-based smart water cooler developer and provider, raised $70 million in Series D funding from Cowen Sustainable Investments

Super, a London-based payments platform, raised £22.5 million ($26.5 million) in funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Union Square Ventures, LocalGlobe, and other angels.

Agora, a New York and Tel Aviv-based SaaS company for real estate firms, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Aleph.

GrayMatter Robotics, a Gardena, Calif.-based robotics company, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Bow Capital led the round and was joined by investors including B Capital Group, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Stage Venture Partners, 3M Ventures, and Swift Ventures

Tessera, formerly Fractional, a New York-based NFT trading platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Paradigm led the round and was joined by investors including Focus Labs, Uniswap Labs Ventures, E Girl Capital, Yunt Capital, and other angels. 

BRAVO SIERRA, a New York-based male personal care company, raised $17 million in Series B funding. The Merchant Club led the round and was joined by investors including Capstar Ventures, Redo Ventures, AF Ventures, and Mousse Partners

Trial Library, a San Francisco-based oncology clinical trials company, raised $5 million in seed funding. Lux Capital partner Deena Shakir led the round and was joined by investors including NEXT VENTŪRES managing partner Julian Eison, Unseen Capital, and other angels. 

Microverse, a San Francisco-based online school for remote software developers, raised $4 million in Series A extension funding. Northzone, General Catalyst, All Iron Ventures, True Equity, and other angels invested in the round.

Quaddro, a São Paulo-based management solutions platform for small businesses and entrepreneurs, raised $3.2 million in seed funding. Valor Capital Group fund led the round and was joined by investors including Grão, Bridge Latam, NXTP and other angels. 

Insomnia Labs, a New York-based Web3 advertising and technology company, raised $1.5 million in funding. Polygon, Animoca Brands, Eden Ventures, HBJ Investments, and Concept Art House invested in the round. 

PRIVATE EQUITY

ARC Health, backed by Thurston Group, acquired Southeast Psych, a Charlotte-based mental health provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

McCarthy Capital acquired a minority stake in WellnessLiving, an Ontario-based business management software company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Litmos, a San Ramon, Calif.-based corporate training solution provider, from SAP. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

OTHER

CI&T agreed to acquire Transpire Technology, a Melbourne-based technology consultancy. Financial terms were not disclosed.  

Pattern acquired Current, a Lehi, Utah-based influencer marketing platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Sage agreed to acquire Lockstep, a Seattle-based accounting automation platform for workflows between companies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

WilliamsMarston acquired Paradigm Advisory Group, an Atlanta-based boutique advisory firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.  

IPOS 

PAG, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, is considering delaying its $2 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong to 2023 due to market volatility, according to Bloomberg. The company is backed by Blackstone

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

Shima Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $200 million for their first fund focused on early-stage blockchain startups. 

PEOPLE

Red Cell Partners, a Tyson, Va.-based incubation firm, hired Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. as chief investment officer, chairman of the investment committee, partner, and a member of the board of directors.Formerly, he was with TIAA.

Sumeru Equity Partners, a San Mateo, Calif.-based private equity firm, promoted Pejman Pourmousa to operating partner, Sofija Ostojic and Nick Sheehan to vice presidents, and  Raymond Shen and Blake Shott to senior associates.

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Greater Toronto home sales jump in October after Bank of Canada rate cuts: board

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TORONTO – The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales in October surged as buyers continued moving off the sidelines amid lower interest rates.

The board said 6,658 homes changed hands last month in the Greater Toronto Area, up 44.4 per cent compared with 4,611 in the same month last year. Sales were up 14 per cent from September on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The average selling price was up 1.1 per cent compared with a year earlier at $1,135,215. The composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 3.3 per cent year-over-year.

“While we are still early in the Bank of Canada’s rate cutting cycle, it definitely does appear that an increasing number of buyers moved off the sidelines and back into the marketplace in October,” said TRREB president Jennifer Pearce in a news release.

“The positive affordability picture brought about by lower borrowing costs and relatively flat home prices prompted this improvement in market activity.”

The Bank of Canada has slashed its key interest rate four times since June, including a half-percentage point cut on Oct. 23. The rate now stands at 3.75 per cent, down from the high of five per cent that deterred many would-be buyers from the housing market.

New listings last month totalled 15,328, up 4.3 per cent from a year earlier.

In the City of Toronto, there were 2,509 sales last month, a 37.6 per cent jump from October 2023. Throughout the rest of the GTA, home sales rose 48.9 per cent to 4,149.

The sales uptick is encouraging, said Cameron Forbes, general manager and broker for Re/Max Realtron Realty Inc., who added the figures for October were stronger than he anticipated.

“I thought they’d be up for sure, but not necessarily that much,” said Forbes.

“Obviously, the 50 basis points was certainly a great move in the right direction. I just thought it would take more to get things going.”

He said it shows confidence in the market is returning faster than expected, especially among existing homeowners looking for a new property.

“The average consumer who’s employed and may have been able to get some increases in their wages over the last little bit to make up some ground with inflation, I think they’re confident, so they’re looking in the market.

“The conditions are nice because you’ve got a little more time, you’ve got more choice, you’ve got fewer other buyers to compete against.”

All property types saw more sales in October compared with a year ago throughout the GTA.

Townhouses led the surge with 56.8 per cent more sales, followed by detached homes at 46.6 per cent and semi-detached homes at 44 per cent. There were 33.4 per cent more condos that changed hands year-over-year.

“Market conditions did tighten in October, but there is still a lot of inventory and therefore choice for homebuyers,” said TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer.

“This choice will keep home price growth moderate over the next few months. However, as inventory is absorbed and home construction continues to lag population growth, selling price growth will accelerate, likely as we move through the spring of 2025.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Homelessness: Tiny home village to open next week in Halifax suburb

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HALIFAX – A village of tiny homes is set to open next month in a Halifax suburb, the latest project by the provincial government to address homelessness.

Located in Lower Sackville, N.S., the tiny home community will house up to 34 people when the first 26 units open Nov. 4.

Another 35 people are scheduled to move in when construction on another 29 units should be complete in December, under a partnership between the province, the Halifax Regional Municipality, United Way Halifax, The Shaw Group and Dexter Construction.

The province invested $9.4 million to build the village and will contribute $935,000 annually for operating costs.

Residents have been chosen from a list of people experiencing homelessness maintained by the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia.

They will pay rent that is tied to their income for a unit that is fully furnished with a private bathroom, shower and a kitchen equipped with a cooktop, small fridge and microwave.

The Atlantic Community Shelters Society will also provide support to residents, ranging from counselling and mental health supports to employment and educational services.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.

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Here are some facts about British Columbia’s housing market

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Housing affordability is a key issue in the provincial election campaign in British Columbia, particularly in major centres.

Here are some statistics about housing in B.C. from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2024 Rental Market Report, issued in January, and the B.C. Real Estate Association’s August 2024 report.

Average residential home price in B.C.: $938,500

Average price in greater Vancouver (2024 year to date): $1,304,438

Average price in greater Victoria (2024 year to date): $979,103

Average price in the Okanagan (2024 year to date): $748,015

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Vancouver: $2,181

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Victoria: $1,839

Average two-bedroom purpose-built rental in Canada: $1,359

Rental vacancy rate in Vancouver: 0.9 per cent

How much more do new renters in Vancouver pay compared with renters who have occupied their home for at least a year: 27 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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