Dive Brief:

• Commercial real estate management platform provider VTS announced a $55 million investment round led by Insight Venture Partners, bringing its total investment to $84 million, according to TechCrunch.
• VTS officials said landlords and brokers use their service to monitor leasing patterns and performance, as well as to manage and keep an eye on leasing operations.
• The company, which counts global investment managers among its clients, said it would use the money to expand into different countries and to improve its products.

Dive Insight:

According to TechCrunch, the commercial leasing and asset management services company is one of the most well-funded among its peers. Nick Romito, founder and CEO, said the company is now doubling in size each year. He told TechCrunch that he wants VTS to be "the one platform that everyone in the commercial real estate industry uses to manage their portfolios, track their deal flow and communicate with their peer set and partners."

Much like construction, the real estate industry thus far has been relatively technology-resistant, which is where Romito said he sees opportunity. The fact that many countries around the world still manage their properties manually means VTS has the chance to draw in significant business, highlighting the benefit of all the data it produces for its clients to help them manage their properties more efficiently, according to Romito.

Startups and technology platforms have garnered major investor interest recently in both the construction and real estate spaces. Last week, Oracle announced its purchase of cloud-based construction management software firm Textura in an all-cash, $663 million deal. Prior to the Oracle deal, Textura's biggest rival was Procore, another cloud-based construction management software company. In January, and after a $50 million investment, some analysts put Procore's valuation at $500 million, nearing Textura's $589 million.

And in the real estate technology sphere, New York City real estate and construction scion Daniel Tishman — with Tishman Construction — cast his lot in with Ecorithm, a California-based software company that monitors and regulates a building's heating, electricity, and ventilation to maximize energy efficiency.