Cushman & Wakefield is teaming up with the tech accelerator MetaProp to find new real estate technology companies that could boost its business.
During the past few months, MetaProp has evaluated 100 opportunities as an adviser to Cushman including parking technologies as well as services using artificial intelligence and robotics, the Wall Street Journal reported. The new deal with Cushman formalizes the relationship.
“We believe that the top practitioners across all of our service lines will increasingly need to get exposed to new technologies to meet demand from increasingly tech-savvy clients,” Adam Stanley, Cushman’s global chief information officer, wrote in an email. “Our industry is changing at an incredible ‘catch up’ speed and we want to lead that transformation.”
Cushman is looking for new technologies that could become pilot programs, partnerships and opportunities for investments and acquisitions, the Journal reported. Cushman expects MetaProp to connect the firm with entrepreneurs and real estate-focused startups beyond the reach it already has through relationships with large tech companies like Microsoft and Salesforce.com.
“We want to be able to Have A View Into Potentially Disruptive Plays Coming Down The Road,” Stanley said.
MetaProp in June disclosed it was looking to raise $25 million for a new real estate tech fund. [WSJ] – Rich Bockmann