Player Of The Month: VTS CEO Nick Romito

Winner: VTS CEO Nick Romito

Why: Nick led his asset management and leasing platform to a $55M Series C funding round last month—the largest ever for a commercial real estate tech startup, bringing the platform’s total value up to $200M.

He didn't stop there, though, as VTS unleashed its retail-specific platform in full force in May, just in time to showcase it at this year's ICSC RECon.

Nick hopes that—as competition with e-commerce spells a retail slowdown—concerned clients will be hungry to adopt every advantage they can to put them ahead of the curve.

“Even in the office side, we see usage and adoption grow significantly in markets that are a little bit softer,” he told us. “What you want to do in that case is manage and understand your building in real time—you don’t want to be reactive, you want to be proactive.”

For helping spearhead real estate tech's push into big data, Nick has earned Bisnow's May Player of the Month.

Honorable Mentions:

• Verzasca Group managing director Tim Lobanov—He's hatched a plan to get more stateside buyers at his company's new Miami luxury condos, offering a year's worth of free private jet service with the purchase of a unit.
  
  
• Apto CEO Tanner McGraw—His real estate tech firm was named to Inc's inaugural list of 50 Best Workplaces, something he attributes not to fancy amenities in the office, but to a pivot in hiring practices from focusing on skill sets to focusing more on secondary qualities like curiosity and humility.
  
  
• Anbang Chairman Wu Xiaohui—The head of the mysterious Anbang Insurance gets the nod simply for walking away from two major deals last month, after nixing a massive Starwood buyout. There is some speculation the retreats came as a result of Chinese regulatory action, but either way, it takes some serious swagger to just bail after bringing these big shots to the table.

This is the fifth in a monthly series of articles recognizing the big players in commercial real estate. Please send your nominations for a local Player of the Month to us here.