SquareFoot raises $7M Series A for commercial real estate tech

NY-based startup seeks to expand its matching services for commercial space

Real estate is changing, from Zillow's and Redfin's marketplaces for buyers to see homes available to buy, Apartment List's marketplace for people to rent homes, Opendoor's service to buy homes on demand to Rooftop's marketplace to buy and sell investment property. Now a new one is emerging to create transparency in the real estate market.

SquareFoot, a commercial real estate tech company based in NY, raised $7M in a series A financing. 

"I’d been in real estate for more than a decade," said Jonathan Wasserstrum, co-founder and CEO of SquareFoot. "Historically and as recent as five years ago, people who owned the commercial supply weren't leading any change. But there's been a sea change and now landlords and property owners [most likely from a new generation] are wondering how we can use technology to market to tenants and make the process more transparent and efficient."

In 2013, Wasserstrum entered the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) and pitched his startup as a one-stop shop for commercial real estate leasing.

"We think it’s a massive market ripe for disruption," said Jonathan Axelrod, Managing Partner at ERA, referring to his interest in commercial real estate, which is a $13 trillion market. "We're in the very early innings with regards to the impact technology has on this industry. But we're certainly starting to see tech disrupting the processes." 

ERA invested $40,000 in SquareFoot and upon graduating the accelerator, the startup raised $400,000 from angels. SquareFoot went on to raise $1.5 million in a Seed round in December 2016. 

"We were in virtually all of the rounds," said Axelrod, explaining the SquareFoot team has been able to execute well and generate consistent revenue and customer growth. "We've worked with them for five years and growth has been impressive. They've refined their thesis and understand who their customer is on both sides of the table."

SquareFoot, which plans to use the financing to expand within New York City and launch additional markets in the US as well as expand offerings to property owners, has helped secure new office space for hundreds of organizations and startups, such as Yale University, Casper, Roivant, City Block, and Dr Smood.

Also participating in the round were Rosecliff Ventures, which led the round, as well as Triangle Peak Partners, RRE Ventures, Primary Venture Partners and Armory Square Partners.