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☆ VCs slashed proptech investments by nearly 40% this year after steep losses and job cuts showed them the sector wasn't all it was cracked up to be
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Proptech investment is down 38% from 2021, according to a new report. The proptech industry is being hit by slowdowns in both real estate and technology. High interest rates are major inhibitors of both real estate investment and tech investment, which both rely on debt. It reflects waning confidence that proptech companies can continue to give their investors big dollar exits. In 2021, private investors could imagine the path to the public markets.

☆ I fill executive-assistant jobs at tech companies that pay up to $250,000 a year. There's a surprisingly low barrier to entry — I just look for these traits in people.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Elle Hardy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Jessica Vann recruits executive assistants for companies like Okta at her company Maven. She says executive assistants are nothing like secretaries — they're the eyes and ears of a leader. After all, an executive assistant preserves a company's scarcest and most precious resource: the leader of the organization. Raising issues to an executive assistant can give the executive the opportunity to intervene while there's still a chance. Are you a recruiter or executive assistant at a major tech company?

☆ SPAC king Chamath Palihapitiya says the Fed crushed the bubble in blank-check firms, and swears he's not responsible for the poor performance of companies he took public
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Chamath Palihapitiya said he isn't responsible for the poor performance of so-called blank check companies. Instead, the venture capitalist blamed Fed policy for causing the market rout this year, according to his recent interview with the NYT. He used SPACs to bring 10 businesses public, including Virgin Galactic, Opendoor, and his own SPAC in 2017, Social Capital. That was a "perverted" and "distorted" marketplace created by the Fed, he said earlier this year, criticizing the low interest rates that allowed speculation and SPAC companies to take hold of investors. But the Fed has raised interest rates 375 basis points so far this year in a scramble to rein in inflation.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Marvell Technology, Horizon Therapeutics, DoorDash and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Zscaler (ZS) – The cloud security company reported a better than expected quarter, but its stock slumped 9.1% in premarket trading following conservative guidance. Horizon shares had soared 27.3% last Friday on news that it was in talks with several potential takeover partners. DoorDash (DASH) – DoorDash shares fell 2.8% in premarket trading after RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to "sector perform" from "outperform." Rigel Pharma (RIGL) – Rigel's stock soared 34% in the premarket after the FDA approved its drug to treat a certain type of leukemia. PagerDuty (PD) – The cloud computing company's stock jumped 6.6% in premarket trading after it reported an unexpected quarterly profit.

☆ This startup comes up with cash offers for homeowners in 24 hours. Check out the pitch deck Rive used to raise a $24 million Series A to make buying and selling real estate easier.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Finnish proptech Rive has just closed a 23 million euros (around $24 million) Series A funding round. We got an exclusive look at the 14-slide pitch deck Rive used to raise the cash. While listing some properties on the market, Rive also has a portfolio of its own. Rive gives sellers cash offers with time frames that suit their moving plans. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck the company used to raise the cash below.

☆ From the future of work to algos for home pricing, these are what the brightest young minds in real estate are working on
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's no shortage of ties between Wall Street and real estate. So it's only fitting that we'd highlight Insider's third-annual list of rising stars in real estate. The latter boils down to trying to use tech to automate and innovate a key, but sometimes costly, part of the business, something Wall Street is well versed in. There is Megan LeMense, 34, a former WeWorker who is thinking about the future of the office in her role at Raise Commercial Real Estate. BlockFi is the latest crypto firm caught up in the FTX debacle.

☆ Another tech bubble bursts: 2022 has been brutal for Silicon Valley workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +28 min

Gem: 100A maker of recruiting software, the startup cut a third of its workforce Nov. 1, The Information reported. HealthCare.com: 149The health insurance marketplace announced the job cuts Aug. 3, Miami Inno reported, citing state regulatory filings. Fabric: 120The robotics startup said July 13 that it was layoffing off 40% of them, TechCrunch reported, citing company confirmation. It affected about 300 people, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported, citing company confirmation. Policygenius: 170The online insurance company cut about 25% of its staff, Axios reported June 6, citing company confirmation.

☆ An Ohio real-estate investor who boasted about his home-flipping portfolio on TikTok is projecting a $30,000 loss on one deal — and issued a somber warning to anyone trying to best the housing market
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Austin Rutherford told his 700,000 followers he will likely take a loss on a recent flip in Ohio. Real estate investor Austin Rutherford, who has over 700,000 followers on TikTok, has talked at length about the opportunities for wealth in real estate investing since the start of the pandemic. But, in a recent video, he breaks down how his latest deal will likely result in a $30,000 loss. The iBuyer firm OpenDoor has been losing money on homes in pandemic real estate hotspots Austin, Atlanta, and Phoenix. Flippers see home values slidingA Pickerington, Ohio house that Rutherford predicts will take a loss in this tough market.

☆ Proptech startup Ribbon plans more layoffs as economic uncertainty lingers, according to CEO's email
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The CEO of Ribbon told employees by email that impending layoffs would be "deeper" than expected. The all-cash offers company already laid off 40% of its employees in July. Shah and a spokesperson for Ribbon did not provide a comment to Insider on the email or layoffs by the time of publication. Tech company layoffs have ballooned far beyond the niche covered by Ribbon, Opendoor and Redfin, too. Read the rest of Ribbon's email here:Team,First and foremost, thank you for your patience through this challenging time for Ribbon.

☆ The cooldown in home prices was a 'once-in-40-years' move, worse than the 2008 crisis that foiled algorithms, said the CEO of America's largest home-flipper
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Opendoor CEO Eric Wu says the company's algorithm didn't predict housing market shifting so quickly. The quick market shifts rivaled those of the housing crisis of 2008, he said. Opendoor's forecast did factor in higher interest rates, according to Wu, but not for home price appreciation to shift alongside it. "We were pricing in the interest rate movements" but didn't also account for the dramatic shift in home prices, he said. According to Wu, Opendoor tested previous market conditions, but the speed of the most-recent shift was far greater than previous shifts — including the 2008 financial crisis.

☆ 3 major predictions for real estate in 2023, according to a 17-year Wall Street veteran who also lists 10 cities that could see the most and least price corrections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

T here will be disparity in price corrections for homes listed above and below median home prices. in price corrections for homes listed above and below median home prices. Rising mortgage rates will increase demand for affordable homes and reduce their supply, he said. On Monday, 30-year fixed mortgage rates were at 7.08% in the US, more than double where they were a year ago. Rising mortgage rates will increase demand for more affordable properties and reduce their supply, he said.

☆ Factbox: Corporate America cuts thousands of jobs as recession looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers jumped 13% to 33,843 in October, the highest since February 2021, according to a report. However, Bloomberg on Sunday reported Twitter was reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs, asking them to return. Coinbase Global (COIN.O):The cryptocurrency exchange said it planned to cut over 60 jobs, in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams. read moreThe move marks a second round of jobs cuts at the company this year, and comes at a time when cryptocurrencies have been roiled by extreme volatility as investors dump risky assets. Walt Disney Co (DIS.N):The media giant is planning to freeze hiring and cut some jobs, according to a company memo seen by Reuters.

☆ Real-estate tech firms are getting hammered by a cataclysmic reckoning that one VC called a cross between the 2001 dot-com bust and the 2008 market crash
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The proptech sector is battling two challenges at once: a slowing housing market and a tech bust. For almost a decade, a growing group of companies have thrived by introducing tech innovations to a stubbornly analog real-estate industry. "Now we're seeing something that feels like a confluence between the 2001 dot-com bust in the venture-capital world and the 2008 market crash in real estate. Shares of both Opendoor and Redfin, which once drew investor attention to the soaring proptech industry, are worth roughly one-tenth what where they were a year ago. The company hasn't laid off any of its 300-person staff — including a roughly 50-person tech team — and doesn't plan to, Matthews said.

☆ Big corporate home-flippers bad bet on hot pandemic housing markets could spell relief for fatigued home shoppers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Big home-flipping companies like Opendoor and Redfin are struggling as the housing market cools. Opendoor is slashing prices on homes, while Redfin shut down its home-flipping business. In a move to offload some of the homes in its inventory, Opendoor has slashed prices and offered bonuses to buyers' agents. iBuyer home flipping is flopping in PhoenixWith the housing downturn intensifying, more companies could soon follow in their footsteps — that could mean steeper price cuts for fatigued homebuyers. "So, if iBuyers are moving faster in regards to doing price cuts, there's this spiral effect where they will typically lead and other people will anchor to what those price cuts are."

☆ After huge Meta layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg tells employees that he cut jobs more thoughtfully than Elon Musk at Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Sydney Bradley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

After a terrible week for thousands of Meta employees, Mark Zuckerberg shared some heartening thoughts at a companywide meeting on Friday: At least we didn't mess up as much as Elon Musk did at Twitter. Musk cut roughly 3,700 workers via an unsigned email, after making many staff work most of the prior weekend. On Friday, the Meta CEO and other executives hosted a town hall meeting for remaining employees and answered their questions. The Q&A touched on Twitter, and Zuckerberg weighed in, according to people who attended. Contact Rob Price via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 650-636-6268), encrypted email (robaeprice@protonmail.com), standard email (rprice@insider.com), Telegram/Wickr/WeChat (robaeprice), or Twitter DM (@robaeprice).

☆ Layoffs Aren’t a Good Look for Big Tech’s Growth Story
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Laura Forman | Justin Lahart | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The long list of Big Tech companies laying people off surely says something about the current state of the economy, but it might tell us more about the sector’s prospects: Investors probably need to look elsewhere for growth. Business software company Salesforce also started dismissing some employees this week. Marking one of his first moves since taking the company over, Elon Musk axed about half of Twitter’s workforce last week, while ride-hailing company Lyft , payments company Stripe and iBuyer Opendoor Technologies also just announced major reductions. Those followed a dizzying list of earlier announcements from Netflix, Shopify, Tesla, Snap, Compass, Peloton, Twilio and more. Meanwhile, Amazon.com has said it would freeze corporate hiring for months, and Alphabet ’s Google has asked some employees to apply for new jobs to remain at the company.

☆ Layoffs are crushing the real-estate industry, and Redfin and Opendoor are the latest victims. Here are 44 companies that have shed jobs due to the fast-cooling housing market.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Alex Nicoll | Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Redfin and Opendoor are the latest real-estate firms to lay off employees. The layoffs come as demand for mortgages has reached its lowest level since 1997.Insider rounded up 44 of the firms who have cut staff amid a cooling housing market. The layoffs at Redfin and Opendoor are the latest signs of trouble for the embattled real-estate industry. The downsizing began in the mortgage industry with Better's Zoom layoffs at the end of last year. With signs of distress spreading through the office market and among homebuilders, and rate hikes anticipated into 2023, layoffs are mounting.

☆ Redfin is shutting down its home-flipping business and laying off 13% of staff
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Redfin announced layoffs on Wednesday. It's also winding down its home-flipping business, RedfinNow. 264 of those are related to the company's home-flipping business, RedfinNow, which it will shut down, the company said in a financial filing. An additional 218 staffers will have their roles eliminated, though they're being offered a new role within the company, Redfin said. A year ago, Zillow announced it would be shutting down its own iBuying division and laying off roughly 2,000 people, about a quarter of its workforce.

☆ Factbox: Corporate America leans on job cuts as recession fears mount
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Nov 7 (Reuters) - Corporate America is cutting thousands of jobs to rein in costs amid tightening monetary policy and growing fears of a recession. Job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers jumped 13% to 33,843 in October, the highest since February 2021, a report said. Microsoft:Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions this week, Axios reported, citing a source. However, Bloomberg on Sunday reported Twitter was reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs, asking them to return. Chime:Online banking firm Chime has laid off 12% of its employees, or about 160 jobs, a spokesperson said.

☆ Factbox: Corporate America lays off thousands as recession worries mount
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

DoorDash Inc (DASH.N):The food delivery firm, which enjoyed a growth surge during the pandemic, said it was reducing its corporate headcount by about 1,250 employees. Twitter Inc:The social media company laid off half its workforce across teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering following Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover. Chime Financial Inc:The online banking firm has laid off 12% of its employees, or about 160 jobs, a spokesperson said. Coinbase Global (COIN.O):The cryptocurrency exchange said it planned to cut over 60 jobs, in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams. CNN:Warner Bros Discovery-owned (WBD.O) CNN's top boss Chris Licht informed employees in an all-staff memo that job cuts were underway.

☆ Thousands of workers were laid off this week as tech companies and startups brace for an economic crash. Investors, founders, and recruiters explain why this is just the beginning.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Rob Price | Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Amid growing economic uncertainty, layoffs in the technology industry, both for public companies and for startups, have been escalating this Fall. While plenty of tech companies were still flying high in early 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February accelerated global economic turmoil. More than 17,000 tech workers lost their jobs in both May and June, while July and August saw another 29,000 cuts, according to layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi. Davis, the VC at Interplay, explained that cost-cutting and layoffs are happening across the board, not just in the tech industry. But public tech companies as well as early- and growth-stage startups will face additional challenges, he said.

☆ Opendoor Posts Steep Third-Quarter Loss Amid Weak Housing Market
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Will Parker | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Opendoor reported it sold more homes in the third quarter compared with a year ago, but it sold many of them for less than what it paid for them. Online house-flipper Opendoor Technologies Inc. posted enormous losses in third quarter earnings on Thursday as it struggled with weak sales in a market hit hard by interest rate increases. “Navigating a once-in-forty-years market transition has been anything but easy,” wrote chief executive Eric Wu in a letter to shareholders.

☆ Online real estate market risk exposure with JMP Securities' Nick Jones
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailOnline real estate market risk exposure with JMP Securities' Nick JonesNick Jones, equity research analyst at JMP securities, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss Opendoor's warning, the cash needed to navigate near term headwinds and forces needed to normalize the housing market.

☆ Walmart-backed One has made a splash with high-profile hires and big potential, but customers of the old regime feel left behind
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The ones left behindHaving your bank acquired by the nation's largest retailer might seem like an exciting opportunity. Read our full deep-dive into how One customers feel frustrated by changes made to their bank in the wake of its acquisition. In other news:Diddy, Heidi Klum, and Mindy Kaling are just a few of the many celebrities that celebrate Halloween with statement looks. Diddy/Instagram; Noam Galai/Getty Images for Heidi Klum; Mindy Kaling/Instagram2. Credit to Heidi Klum for going all in.

☆ Opendoor CEO Eric Wu says it will cut 550 employees as the $1.5 billion home-flipping company struggles to turn a profit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Opendoor announced that it will lay off 18% of its staff, a total of about 550 workers. During third quarter the firm offered generous incentives to drum up sales, eating into its bottom line. Opendoor is offering laid-off employees at least 10 weeks of severance pay and health-care coverage through February 2023, he said. How Opendoor has coped with a cooling housing marketBut recently, Opendoor has had to slash prices and offer richer concessions to lure buyers. Datadoor found that it took Opendoor a median of 113 days to flip a home between July and September.

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