Point72 Ventures leads investment in brokerage
STAMFORD — Point72 Ventures, a venture capital business of billionaire hedge fund investor Steven Cohen, announced this week that it was leading a $20 million investment in commercial real estate brokerage HelloOffice.
The Series A funding from Stamford-based Ventures and other investors will support the development of the technology platform of HelloOffice, which was founded in 2016 in San Francisco. Having cumulatively raised $27 million, the firm plans to expand its services to project management and workplace strategy and extend its footprint to markets beyond San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“HelloOffice’s full-stack approach to brokerage will be a game-changer for the real estate industry,” Point72 partner Sri Chandrasekar said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with this innovative and collaborative company as they continue to expand their product offering and geographic footprint.”
Other participants in the funding round included existing investors Initialized Capital, Founders Fund, SaaStr, House Fund and Jake Gibson.
“Everyone is rethinking the modern office, and it’s going to take a modern, software-powered brokerage to lead companies into this new era,” Alexis Ohanian, general partner at Initialized Capital and co-founder of Reddit, said in a statement. “We’ve been proud to work with Justin and his team from their earliest days, and HelloOffice continues to set the industry standard.”
HelloOffice officials said they plan to soon run a platform that will help clients find space, close their leases, build out their offices and assist with ongoing operations.
“We saw a huge opportunity to expand our technology platform and geographic footprint. The time is ripe to usher in the hybrid workplace in a scalable way,”
HelloOffice CEO Justin Bedecarre said in a statement. “We are focused on creating new product offerings to help companies find their optimal workplace solution and, in many cases, work with companies transitioning to hybrid workplaces.”
Ventures’ funding for HelloOffice follows several other eight-figure agreements in the past couple of years.
Last October, it led a $16 million investment in Bayzat, a United Arab Emiratesbased startup that focuses on digital HR services.
In May 2019, the firm announced it was spearheading a $45 million infusion in San Franciscobased Tempo Automation, which specializes in assembling printed circuit boards, using artificial intelligence-based robotics and software automation.
At the same, it said it was jointly leading $13 million in financing for Minneapolisbased ClickSwitch, which automates changes in direct deposits and recurring payments for financial institutions’ account holders.
In April 2019, Ventures announced that it was coleading an $11 million investment in Manhattanbased financial-technology firm Extend.
Ventures was founded in May 2016, about two-and-ahalf years after Cohen founded the main investment firm that he runs today, Stamford-based hedge fund Point72 Asset Management. Ventures’ launch responded to the large volume of deals pitched to Cohen.
In total, Ventures has made more than 50 investments.
The firm has offices at Point72 Asset Management’s headquarters at 72 Cummings Point Road, in Stamford’s Waterside section, as well as others in New York City and Palo Alto, Calif. It operates separately from Point72 Asset Management, but its insights are shared with the latter.