Proptech Startup HqO Secures $50 Million Series D Funding

Another day, another huge funding for a proptech startup.

On Wednesday, a real estate experience platform HqO announced that it has secured more than $50 million in Series D financing as part of an effort to capitalize on a fundamental evolution in the real estate economy as the space has transformed from a required commodity to a service and now, according to the companies, to a statement experience.

Koch’s real estate investmentssubsidiary Koch Industryled the financing round, which also included existing HqO investors, as well as venture capital and commercial real estate firms Partner, Insight partners AND Related companies. The additional capital brings the company’s total financing to over $200 million.

The $50 million funding will be used to expand the company’s capabilities, which HqO sees as merger and acquisition opportunities, he added. Chase Garbarinoits co-founder and CEO.

Garbarino said there are too many proptech solutions and too few problems. We also have a lot of good entrepreneurs who have built really good features, but they’re not full products.

Combining such products on the HqO platform to obtain comprehensive solutions meets the convergent interests of property owners and tenants, he added.

Garbarino said these different community groups, asset managers and tenants are really starting to come together. I think historically, proptech has been relatively single-threaded and focused on single-person solutions. We believe that collectively we need more end-to-end solutions that truly bring the entire experience together. To achieve this, we need to become a multi-product platform.

Koch leading the round is one of the latest examples of a more than decade-long campaign by energy and mining giants to promote green investments, some of which have been accused of deceptive green washing.

When asked about such accusations, Garbarino refused to comment, but said that Koch became an investor thanks to his friendship with Justin Wilsonmanaging director at Koch Real Estate Investments, who joins the HqOs management board.

Justin was previously with Gores Group and previously he was on SoftBank is making technology investments, Garbarino said. Justin and I go back a few years. He is an extremely thoughtful and competent proptech investor.

As part of the funding announcement, Wilson confirmed Koch Real Estate Investments’ focus on advancing proptech in the industry: “As the real estate industry continues to evolve dramatically, we strongly believe its future lies in the convergence of innovative technology, data and customer-centric experiences,” he stated Wilson in a prepared statement. By developing cutting-edge technologies and tools that prioritize user sentiment, HqO not only adapts to the rapidly changing real estate industry, but also drives its growth. Thanks to HqO’s vision and our investments, we are confident that together we are building a more transformational ecosystem.

With the funding announcement, HqO announced this launched the HqO REX platform, it claims the the first end-to-end, custom-built experience customers. The platform addresses pain points in the real estate ecosystem for owners, operators and tenants alike, as users can gain instant access to global real estate information from over 1.3 million employees and over 8,000 jobs.

According to HqO, the platforms’ product suite includes REX Assessment, a tool for quantifying employee work style, preferences and overall satisfaction; REX Score, which quantifies the value that operators and tenants receive from a building, using data from the REX Assessment to show positive customer experiences at the property; and REX Index, the industry’s first global real estate user experience index, a benchmark and tool for certifying and researching real estate through the lens of human experience, ranking landlords and tenants using REX scores.

Philip Russo can be contacted at: prusso@commercialobserver.com.