VTS inks $200m tenant experience platform deal

In one of the largest proptech deals ever, VTS has agreed to purchase Lane Technologies for about $200m.

The deal will give VTS the largest global customer base for tenant experience with 3 million users across 1,400 buildings in 13 countries, including some of the biggest names in real estate.

Based in Toronto, Lane counts global developers such as Brookfield, Oxford Properties and Hines among its users.

By acquiring Lane, VTS has solidified its place in the tenant experience sector in a relatively short period of time. Just seven months ago, VTS announced its circa $100m acquisition of Rise Buildings, which gave it its first proper foothold in the market.

At the time of the Rise deal, VTS said the insights the acquisition would enable about how people use buildings would be critical during the Covid-19 recovery and beyond.

This time, VTS will be able to add more tenant engagement capabilities, such as Lane Perks, which providers building occupiers with access to a private network of thousands of promotions, events, products and services.

Announced just minutes after HqO announced its acquisition of Office App – which created a $500m competitor to VTS – the deal is yet another reflection of the importance real estate and proptech both place on tenant experience in a post-Covid world.

Ben Brown, Brookfield’s head of US office, for example, said the VTS and Lane combination “could not come at a better time for landlords” and would be “hugely impactful”. With tenant expectations continuing to change, landlords have to look at what tech they can use to meet those shifting needs, he said.

“Critical” solution

Nick Romito, CEO of VTS, said: “Over the last year, I have spoken with many of the owners of the 80,000 buildings using VTS across the globe. Tenant experience is the critical solution for them in the next 12 months as they help their tenants get back into the office productively and effectively in this new world.

“Success in tenant experience and engagement requires both incredible focus on integrations with building operations as well as world-class tenant engagement.

“The value our customers already receive from our platform with new capabilities from Lane will be more critical than ever as landlords focus on renewing existing tenants and leasing space in what will be a highly competitive market for tenants over the coming months.”

As part of the acquisition, Clint Robinson, CEO of Lane, will join the VTS team as a managing director. VTS said it expects to integrate Lane into VTS Rise to allow both Rise and Lane customers to “seamlessly access” additional features.

Clint Robinson, CEO of Lane, said: “We were incredibly impressed by how closely the VTS team works with their customers from top-to-bottom.

“We want to deliver the same in-depth relationships to our customers as well as give them access to the broader VTS platform. We’re delighted to join VTS and leverage these relationships to give our customers an even better experience.”