PropTech Company Lane Raises $2.5M, Expands In U.S.
Workplace solutions platform Lane has announced the company is further expanding into the United States.
The Toronto-based company, which recently opened a New York office, has raised $2.5M in funding from Alate Partners, Panache Ventures and Colliers/Techstars.
The funding will support new hires in the firm's New York office, which opened in April, and a Los Angeles office slated to open in the third quarter.
The company also announced it has formed a partnership with Brookfield, Dream and Colliers International. Lane will begin to roll out workplace services to buildings through those partners in the coming months.
The company's platform is used in about 80 buildings totaling about 35M SF, mostly in major markets across Canada.
"We want Lane to be the platform that runs everyone's workplace experience across the world," Lane CEO Clinton Robinson said to Bisnow. "The goal really is is to be that universal work experience platform."
Founded in 2014 by Robinson and Kofi Gyekye, Lane's platform allows tenants and operators to build community, connectivity and engagement at any office building.
Robinson said at the moment building owners and property managers use 15 software providers to be responsible for different facets of the work environment and building. There are usually separate providers that handle parking, worker access to the building, guest registration, maintenance and security, he said.
"None of these work together in any intelligent way," Robinson said. "We created Lane to be that software layer that connects everything together in the workplace ecosystem."
His company's app or web portal would allow everything to tie in together, he said.
For example, the property manager could know how many people show up to work, what time, how many people are in the building on a certain day and how many use the fitness center.
An employee in the building using the app would be able to book a conference room, sign up for a yoga class, invite a guest and more.
"We like to say, 'We turn any workplace into a place that works,'" Robinson said.
Robinson said Lane has more announcements planned for the coming months. He said his company is on track to cover 160M SF globally by the end of the year.
"This is an exciting time for us," Robinson said. "We've been around and in operation for a while but we've operated under the radar. Now, it's time for us to come out and show everyone who we are."
