Proptech startup GiGstreem has secured $50 million in funding from Fort Worth, Texas-based Crestline Investors that will enable expansion of GiGstreem’s WiFi platform for multifamily and commercial properties.
GiGstreem’s high-speed, building-wide Ubiquitous WiFi service already is installed at U.S. properties containing more than 100,000 units. Customers include property owners Essex Property Trust, Related Cos., SL Green Realty, and Vornado Realty Trust. Among the New York City locations equipped with Ubiquitous are the iconic Empire State Building and the massive Hudson Yards mixed-use development.
“Amid the pandemic, reliable internet service has become a pressing priority in so many buildings, where people trying to work-by-Zoom from home have had many outages. Reliable internet has become a selling point for not just residents but property owners,” according to GiGstreem, which is based in New York City and Tysons, Virginia.
With the $50 million in fresh funding, GiGstreem plans to roll out its offering to 13 more U.S. metro areas, including Miami, San Francisco and Seattle. Launched in 2017, GiGstreem provides gigabit internet service to residential and commercial properties in six markets:
- Baltimore
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Orlando, Florida
- San Diego
- Washington, D.C.
GiGstreem, led by CEO Joel McIntyre, is a portfolio company of Park City, Utah-based RET Ventures and Reston, Virginia-based LNC Partners. RET’s strategic investors own or manage more than 2 million residential units in the U.S. and Canada.
“The move toward seamless connectivity within the home is still in the early innings,” John Helm, partner and managing director of RET Ventures, which specializes in proptech investments, said in an April 6 news release. “Perhaps more significantly, smart home technology — a feature embraced by managers as much as residents — benefits tremendously from ubiquitous property-wide coverage.”
In 2019, GiGstreem landed a $10 million Series B round from RET Ventures and LNC Partners.
“High-speed, reliable internet service is … non-negotiable in the multifamily industry,” Helm said two years ago. “Not only are we seeing the ‘hotelification’ of the industry where residents expect many of the amenities offered at a high-end hotel, the increasingly prevalent remote workforce and the move away from traditional cable television means that constant connectivity is of the utmost priority.”