Occupier Raises $5M Seed Round to Bring Commercial Real Estate Online
NEW YORK, March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Occupier, a company that helps businesses navigate the complexities of managing a portfolio of real estate leases, and ensure compliance with new accounting standards, has finalized a funding round of $5M. The round is led by Alate Partners and MetaProp, with participation from Second Century Ventures, Thomson Reuters Ventures, and commercial real estate industry leaders across the U.S.
The company, founded in 2018 by VTS and JLL alums Andrew Flint, Matt Giffune, and Erik Pearson, aims to bring much-needed innovation to the lease management, lease accounting, and transaction management space for occupiers of commercial real estate and their tenant representation brokers. At a time when all businesses are being forced to re-evaluate their post-pandemic real estate operations, the company is experiencing rapid growth.
The Occupier platform connects all business stakeholders, internal and external, to a single source of real estate portfolio data, and allows them to collaborate on critical workflows for site selection, deal negotiation, lease management, and compliance with new FASB ASC 842 and IFRS 16 lease accounting standards. The company also provides client and deal management software to tenant representation brokers, allowing them to better serve their clients and drive transaction volume in a centralized system. Customers include DraftKings, Hopper, Shake Shack, Bluestone Lane Coffee, Bonobos, JLL, CBRE and T3Advisors.
"Our vision is to be the place where commercial real estate happens online," explains Occupier Co-Founder Matt Giffune. "The opportunity to eliminate the complexity, uncertainty, delay, and missed opportunities inherent in a historically off-line process for managing a company's real estate is massive. Whether you oversee a portfolio of corporate, retail, or industrial locations, or are a brokerage team managing a pipeline of deals, Occupier puts you in position to make decisions that eliminate unnecessary costs and create flexibility and growth for your business."
"An unprecedented convergence of major forces is upending the traditional norms of commercial real estate," adds Occupier Co-Founder Andrew Flint. "The Covid-19 pandemic has forced companies to rethink their use of space, and looming changes to lease accounting standards require companies to change how they treat their real estate expenses on their balance sheets. In order to adapt to this new dynamic, businesses need to invest in real estate technology that supports their future success."
Occupier will use the capital to scale its team, with immediate hires focused on product engineering, sales, and marketing, accelerating their product roadmap in order to solve more problems for an increasingly wide range of stakeholders on both the tenant and broker sides of commercial real estate.
Courtney Cooper, Principal of Alate Partners who is joining the company's board of directors, indicates, "Occupier's founding team has demonstrated a deep understanding of the pains and struggles experienced by businesses managing a real estate portfolio. We have been working with the Occupier team since their earliest days, and are excited to see them continue to drive innovation in an underserved market."
"What excites us most about Occupier is the massive opportunity they have to provide modern technology to an extremely underserved market of occupiers of commercial space and their advisors," adds MetaProp Partner Maureen Waters. Maureen will join Occupier as a Board Observer. "Occupier's unique insight into the problems facing commercial real estate tenants and brokers positions them as the innovator in space with an ever-increasing demand for data transparency and collaborative workflow tools."
About Occupier
Occupier provides lease administration, lease accounting, and transaction management software for businesses and their commercial brokers. It helps real estate teams make smarter, more informed lease decisions by centralizing the way they work. Founded by commercial real estate and proptech veterans, Occupier works with teams in a variety of industries, including companies such as DraftKings, Hopper, Bluestone Lane Coffee, FM Global, and Outdoor Voices. To learn more, please visit occupier.com or follow Occupier on Twitter @occupierhq and the Fully Occupied Podcast.
About MetaProp
MetaProp is a New York-based venture capital firm focused on the real estate technology ("PropTech") industry. Founded in 2015, MetaProp's investment team has invested in 125+ technology companies across the real estate value chain. The firm manages multiple funds for both financial and strategic real estate investors that represent a pilot- and test-ready sandbox of 15+ billion square feet across every real estate asset type and global market. The firm's investment activities are complemented by pioneering community leadership including the PropTech Place innovation hub, MetaProp Accelerator at Columbia University programs, global events NYC Real Estate Tech Week and Propel by MIPIM NYC, and publications Global PropTech Confidence Index and PropTech 101.
About Alate Partners
Alate Partners invests in entrepreneurs who are rethinking real estate. Founded through a partnership between Dream and Relay Ventures, Alate focuses on innovative technology companies that enhance how commercial, residential, and industrial real estate is designed, built, and managed. In addition to capital, Alate provides unique access to expertise and customers through its network of influential real estate owners, operators, and managers. For more information on Alate, visit alatepartners.com.
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SOURCE Occupier
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