Blackstone backs market leader to accelerate shift toward real-time data across commercial real estate industry
New York, January 14, 2015.VTS (formerly View The Space) the leading commercial real estate asset management and leasing platform announced today a $3.3M strategic investment from real estate private equity funds managed by Blackstone (NYSE:BX). The partnership will provide VTS with ongoing support and expertise from Blackstone’s Real Estate and Innovations teams, and Blackstone intends to migrate its office assets onto the VTS platform, further solidifying the company’s position as the market standard for tracking real-time leasing data and portfolio performance.
Operating under its new name “VTS,” the company provides real estate owners and brokers with a single technology platform to manage entire portfolios. VTS significantly increases productivity across the $12 trillion commercial real estate market by tracking deal activity, identifying market trends and quantifying portfolio performance. The result is better workflow and the ability to make strategic decisions with accurate, real-time information. With over one billion square feet under management, VTS has quickly become the platform of choice for the industry’s largest landlords and brokerage firms.
“The commercial real estate industry has long relied on static information,” said Jacob Werner, Managing Director at Blackstone. “VTS has been the driving force behind the industry’s much needed shift towards real-time data and has quickly become the clear leader in the marketplace. We are excited to partner with the team at VTS to grow the business and accelerate the shift toward a single industry-standard.”
“What excited us most about the partnership was the shared vision both our firms had to create a single industry-leading platform. With a real estate and technical bench as deep as Blackstone’s there’s no end to what we’ll be able to create together,” said Nick Romito, Co-Founder and CEO.
“Truly innovating requires technical and product drive and a deep knowledge of the industry and problem set. We carefully surveyed the marketplace and this is where VTS really stands out. As owners and customers, we look forward to bringing Blackstone technology and real estate knowledge to VTS,” said Bill Murphy, Blackstone’s Chief Technology Officer.
Headquartered in New York City, VTS has grown from 15 to 47 employees across 5 major markets in less than 12 months with customer growth tracking over 700%. VTS attributes much of their success to working closely with the real estate community to build a platform catering to the industry’s specific needs.
“Our plan is to expand aggressively over the next 12 months and invest heavily in both product and people. We’ve been able to assemble an amazing team across all facets of the organization so expanding upon the existing talent pool will be key to our continued success. The focus will be on growing a strong local presence across all major U.S. markets and expanding into key international markets,” said Ryan Masiello, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with almost $300 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Blackstone also provides various financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
About VTS
VTS (formerly View The Space), a New York-based technology company, is the leading leasing and asset management platform built to provide real-time leasing and asset management data to the top landlords and brokerage firms in the world. VTS allows brokers and owners to manage deal activity, identify trends and quantify portfolio performance from their desktop or mobile device.
With over 1 Billion square feet under management, VTS has been the driving force behind the industry’s shift towards real-time data and has quickly become the standard in the marketplace. For more information, visit www.vts.com or follow VTS on Twitter @ViewTheSpace. For press inquiries, please email [email protected].
Contact
Christine Anderson
Blackstone
+1 (212) 583 5182
[email protected]