Real estate scion Jared Kushner has joined the board at real estate network Honest Buildings and his younger brother Joshua’s investment fund, Thrive Capital, has led a $4 million venture capital investment in the start-up.
Manhattan-based Honest Buildings connects developers and landlords with engineers, architects, designers and other vendors. It launched in March 2012, and has since built a network of 5,000 to 10,000 New York City vendors, as The Real Deal has reported.
Thrive contributed $3 million of its own funds, while a pool of other investors provided the other $1 million, a release from Honest Buildings said.
Clients include Vornado Realty Trust, Sitt Asset Management, and Cushman and Wakefield’s property and asset management group, which used Honest Buildings to find engineers for work at 119 West 40th Street, a 355,000-square-foot Midtown office tower it manages.
As of October, Kubiak claimed Honest Buildings has originated $42 million in business through the online platform HB Match.
“It’s a very simple concept but very efficient,” Jared Kushner told the Wall Street Journal. “We were definitely saving money but I care less about that when it comes to building services and more about finding the right person for the job.” [WSJ, 2nd item] — Mark Maurer