Alate Partners Jumps Into Property Management Space

TORONTO, CANADA–Amid the backdrop of a fast-growing real estate market and evolving technologies, Alate Partners recently launched with $40 million in seed financing. Alate works with companies ranging from early stage startups to mature companies who develop platforms which enhances how real estate is conducted.

“Technology is starting to play a bigger role in commercial real estate,” says Courtney Cooper, Director of Corporate Development, Alate Partners. “There is a lot of opportunities in the market including technologically thinking about how buildings are managed and how owners/property managers can seamlessly interact with their tenants.”

“Commercial real estate is ripe for new technology today,” says Jake Cassaday, Associate Partner, Relay Ventures; Director, Alate Partners. “Everyone has a smart phone in their pocket — maintenance workers, property managers, and owners. With technology at our fingertips, quantifiable and actionable data is accessible and we can quickly determine a building’s water quality, the lifetime of the HVAC units plus determine specific building info which will allow property managers to promptly make decisions.”

Cassaday adds that building managers are starting to feel pressure to work with advanced digital platforms, namely due to tenant expectations.

Alate has made two initial investments, Lane and ParkWhiz. Lane’s platform enables more effective communication and interaction between commercial landlords and their tenants. Current customers includes Dream, Brookfield, and Colliers.

ParkWhiz is a smart parking solution that connects parking lot operators and managers with drivers to find, book, and pay for parking through its app, website, and distribution partners. The software has parked millions of vehicles in approximately 230 cities across North America.

“We really want building investors, owners and property managers to have the best software to efficiently do their job,” Cooper tells GlobeSt.com. “We want them to have the built-in infrastructure so that checking-in on an iPad when a building visitor arrives will instantly notify the tenant. Brokers should be able to efficiently track when leases are expiring and at some point, property managers should be able to get rid of access cards and employees enter using an app on their phone. Tenants will also be able to simply take a picture of a problem and send it, via software, to the property manager who will then transmit the info to a maintenance worker.”

Incubated through a partnership between Canadian real estate company, Dream Unlimited and early stage venture firm Relay Ventures, Alate focuses on technology companies that enhance how commercial, residential, and industrial real estate is designed, built, and managed.