Weekly Radar #276- Modular Smoke, Feebleness In Proptech, Rewarding The Board, and Canvassing The Prefab Market
Here's what's covered in this edition of the GEM Crystal Radar:
- Modular construction startup Veev, which has raised $600 million, is shutting down.
- Hiten Samtani had a tweet thread about proptech's growing graveyard.
- Carta shared data regarding board compensation.
- Jupe is building modular buildings helping people that are displaced from natural disasters... and it's pretty cool.
New this week on Geek Estate Blog:
BlueStreak IoT optimizes operational processes for commercial business owners and facility managers by adding an intelligence layer to existing products and enabling smart and connected features...
Plus Platform is an asset management and trading platform that aims to enhance transparency, accuracy, and liquidity in the residential secondary mortgage market...
GEM Diamond Member News:
- CRMLS Matrix users can now upload videos directly to their listings with WellcomeMat. -- Christian Sterner
- Congratulations to Dane Andrews on his new position of Director of Acquisitions at Re-viv.
- Rentspree partnered with Stellar MLS. -- Michael Lucarelli, Lauren Martin, and Mathew Kallumadil
- Listen to Josh Jensen on the WSREIP podcast.
- Collabra partnered with Bright MLS. - Russ Cofano and Ken Schneider
- Listen to Sipho Simela on the Millie-to-Millie podcast.
- August Hill collaborated with BeHome247 to launch their SFR Technology and Operations report for 2024. -- Stefan Shircel
- Local Logic partnered with FBS. -- Michael Wurzer, Vincent-Charles Hodder & Sara Maffey
- Hear Amrita Tahiliani's talk at the virtual Marketing for Proptech & Con(struction)tech startups event (December 6th, 5:30 pm).
As always, links surrounded by the ❇️ emoji indicate exclusive GEM Diamond content. If you would like to have access to all links, please consider GEM Diamond membership.
CONSTRUCTION
Modular Smoke
By: Drew Meyers
Modular construction startup Veev, which has raised $600 million including a $400 Series D in 2022, is shutting down, according to Calcalist. They secured a copy of an internal communication to employees:
Veev was in the process of raising capital, which was canceled at the last minute. In light of the current market situation in Israel and globally, it was not possible to secure additional funding," the company wrote in a statement. "Therefore, the current entity of the company will be closed in the coming days and transferred to an assignee who will be in charge of the assets and their sale in the U.S. In the meantime, until a buyer is found for the assets, the company's operations will continue. At this stage, the company's employees in Israel will continue to work.
Calcalist reported the news, then TheRealDeal amplified it.
Caitlin Bigelow compiled takeaways from NRB Modular, Stack Modular, and her employer, Volumetric Building Companies that are worth a read.
❇️Katerra's implosion❇️ was a huge black eye for the ❇️modular industry❇️--and Veev's impending closure isn't going to help. Veev's huge 2022 round included LenX, Zeev Ventures, Fifth Wall Climate Tech and JLL Spark Global Ventures--having to write off this investment is doing those funds no favors in their quest to deliver returns to LPs. I sincerely hope this latest doomsday doesn't spell the end of investment into modular construction innovations.
Image created using Jasper.ai
prompt: $600 million going up in smoke, with modern residential houses in the background