SAN FRANCISCO—In its 2016 global private equity fund and investor survey, Ernst & Young found a seismic shift in the importance of reporting when investors select a manager. Its findings indicate “in just one year, [there is] a 400% increase in investors that now rank a private equity firm's ability to handle reporting requirements as the most important when selecting a firm.”

After two years of serving a select group of leading real estate investment managers, San Francisco-based tech firm Juniper Square introduced investment management software for commercial real estate managers. The program integrates numerous capabilities into a single capital markets software system.

“Real estate managers today are buried under mountains of spreadsheets and struggle with antiquated systems that are hard-to-use and don't talk to each other. Juniper Square puts an end to that with an integrated system that supports the entirety of the capital markets operation, from front office to back. Whether they have 10 investors or thousands, our software frees up managers to focus on what they do best: buying, selling, and leasing real estate,” said Alex Robinson, co-founder and CEO of Juniper Square.

Robinson recently discussed the software's investor benefits, problem solving and value proposition in this exclusive.

GlobeSt.com: What is the feature that is most appealing to investors?

Alex Robinson: It integrates many capabilities: a CRM designed for real estate, a secure data room and automated subscription process to streamline fundraising, an investment accounting system that can scale to the most complex funds, and an automated investor reporting capability designed to meet the needs of even the most sophisticated investors.

GlobeSt.com: What problem does this solve for real estate firms?

Robinson: There are a few basic activities that every real estate investment firm engages in: buying, selling and developing buildings, leasing them up and raising the capital necessary to fund their investments. We help with that last problem by bringing a software approach to an activity that has long been underserved by technology, but is a core workflow for every real estate firm with outside investors to manage.

GlobeSt.com: What is the hot button that makes estate investment firms pay attention?

Robinson: Real estate managers today are buried under mountains of spreadsheets and struggle with antiquated systems that are hard to use and don't talk to each other. This problem has been exacerbated by investor reporting demands, which have grown exponentially since the Great Recession.

GlobeSt.com: What value does Juniper Square bring?

Robinson: Juniper Square's value proposition is pretty simple: it saves you money and time on the back office, while increasing investor satisfaction.

GlobeSt.com: Who are some of Juniper Square's clients?

Robinson: Nationally, we work with more than 50 real estate investment managers including Beacon Capital, Greystar and Cortland Partners. Here in the Bay Area, we work with about two dozen clients, including Build Inc., Ellis Partners, Harvest Properties, JMA Ventures, The Reliant Group, Swift Real Estate Partners and Veritas Investments.

GlobeSt.com: What are some stats you can share on product usage?

Robinson: Collectively, our customers are managing more than 1,000 real estate investments and 8,000 investors through our tools. Juniper Square is the system of record for more than 20,000 investment positions and more than $25 billion in capital, and 2/3 of our customers are active in the software every single day. There are more than 130 active offerings in the market seeking capital on Juniper Square.

“Having recently raised two funds at Swift, I can say that limited partners are increasingly choosing general partners with a focus on their reporting and operations. Juniper Square helps us respond to these increasing demands,” says Doug Abbey, chairman of Swift Real Estate and Juniper Square customer and advisory board member.

As previously reported, another type of software facilitates commercial real estate loans.

SAN FRANCISCO—In its 2016 global private equity fund and investor survey, Ernst & Young found a seismic shift in the importance of reporting when investors select a manager. Its findings indicate “in just one year, [there is] a 400% increase in investors that now rank a private equity firm's ability to handle reporting requirements as the most important when selecting a firm.”

After two years of serving a select group of leading real estate investment managers, San Francisco-based tech firm Juniper Square introduced investment management software for commercial real estate managers. The program integrates numerous capabilities into a single capital markets software system.

“Real estate managers today are buried under mountains of spreadsheets and struggle with antiquated systems that are hard-to-use and don't talk to each other. Juniper Square puts an end to that with an integrated system that supports the entirety of the capital markets operation, from front office to back. Whether they have 10 investors or thousands, our software frees up managers to focus on what they do best: buying, selling, and leasing real estate,” said Alex Robinson, co-founder and CEO of Juniper Square.

Robinson recently discussed the software's investor benefits, problem solving and value proposition in this exclusive.

GlobeSt.com: What is the feature that is most appealing to investors?

Alex Robinson: It integrates many capabilities: a CRM designed for real estate, a secure data room and automated subscription process to streamline fundraising, an investment accounting system that can scale to the most complex funds, and an automated investor reporting capability designed to meet the needs of even the most sophisticated investors.

GlobeSt.com: What problem does this solve for real estate firms?

Robinson: There are a few basic activities that every real estate investment firm engages in: buying, selling and developing buildings, leasing them up and raising the capital necessary to fund their investments. We help with that last problem by bringing a software approach to an activity that has long been underserved by technology, but is a core workflow for every real estate firm with outside investors to manage.

GlobeSt.com: What is the hot button that makes estate investment firms pay attention?

Robinson: Real estate managers today are buried under mountains of spreadsheets and struggle with antiquated systems that are hard to use and don't talk to each other. This problem has been exacerbated by investor reporting demands, which have grown exponentially since the Great Recession.

GlobeSt.com: What value does Juniper Square bring?

Robinson: Juniper Square's value proposition is pretty simple: it saves you money and time on the back office, while increasing investor satisfaction.

GlobeSt.com: Who are some of Juniper Square's clients?

Robinson: Nationally, we work with more than 50 real estate investment managers including Beacon Capital, Greystar and Cortland Partners. Here in the Bay Area, we work with about two dozen clients, including Build Inc., Ellis Partners, Harvest Properties, JMA Ventures, The Reliant Group, Swift Real Estate Partners and Veritas Investments.

GlobeSt.com: What are some stats you can share on product usage?

Robinson: Collectively, our customers are managing more than 1,000 real estate investments and 8,000 investors through our tools. Juniper Square is the system of record for more than 20,000 investment positions and more than $25 billion in capital, and 2/3 of our customers are active in the software every single day. There are more than 130 active offerings in the market seeking capital on Juniper Square.

“Having recently raised two funds at Swift, I can say that limited partners are increasingly choosing general partners with a focus on their reporting and operations. Juniper Square helps us respond to these increasing demands,” says Doug Abbey, chairman of Swift Real Estate and Juniper Square customer and advisory board member.

As previously reported, another type of software facilitates commercial real estate loans.