GOOGLE-BACKED PROPTECH FIRM ASKPORTER RAISES £1.5M
A London-based PropTech firm backed by Google has secured a further £1.5m in seed funding.
The AI-focussed property management software firm will add to its investment from Google a further £1.5m in seed funding from Silicon Valley VCs including Venture University, Pi Labs, Plug and Play, WISAG FM and Henley Investments.
Its software allows for the automation of repetitive and simple property management tasks.
The firm said it will also launch a digital assistant, called porter, which can carry out routine tasks automatically, such as arranging viewings and chasing arrears.
Following the seed round, askporter’s CEO, Tom Shrive said: “Our success raising £1.5m investment reflects wider changes sweeping the property industry.
Love “Alpha” Bet Concept
I don’t like surprises. Especially as an investor. The Google restructuring news yesterday was a shocker. But I love it!
For one thing, it’s got “Alpha” and I live for Alpha. The holding company name is a hallmark of Google creativity and innovation. Look at the web-site address: https://abc.xyz/
The new company is essentially a technology version of the industrial and consumer product conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway run by Warren Buffett. Alphabet is the Berkshire for the 21st Century!
Here’s what Larry Page, the co-founder of Google and the CEO of Alphabet Inc had to say in the press release:
As Sergey and I wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago, “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” As part of that, we also said that you could expect us to make “smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to our current businesses.” From the start, we’ve always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with the resources we have”
“For Sergey and me this is a very exciting new chapter in the life of Google—the birth of Alphabet. We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity’s most important innovations, and is the core of how we index with Google search! We also like that it means alpha‑bet (Alpha is investment return above benchmark), which we strive for! I should add that we are not intending for this to be a big consumer brand with related products—the whole point is that Alphabet companies should have independence and develop their own brands”
You can read the full press release here:https://investor.google.com/releases/2015/0810.html
Congrats to Sundar Pichai also as the new CEO of Google. Well deserved.
Look forward to being a shareholder of both AlphaBet and Google. Not investment advice and no position at this time.
Thank you Larry.