JLL Spark Leads $10M Funding Round For AI Startup Qbiq
Generative artificial intelligence and real estate space planning platform Qbiq has raised $10M to accelerate the company's growth.
The funding was led by JLL Spark, the brokerage company's tech-based venture capital arm, and included 10D, Ocean Azul, Randomforest and M-FUND, Qbiq announced Wednesday.
Founded in 2018, Israel-based Qbiq allows users to quickly move through the real estate planning process using generative AI and visualization.
"Qbiq's AI-based platform enables our deep bench of global real estate advisors to provide exemplary client service with innovative software tools that accelerate transaction time across multiple JLL business lines," JLL Spark Managing Partner Raj Singh said in a press release.
JLL Spark, founded in 2017, has invested more than $390M in more than 50 early stage proptech startups, according to its website.
JLL said in July that embracing AI could "transform the sector," noting that based on a survey, generative AI is among the top technologies expected to have the biggest impact on real estate.
From investing in Elise AI, a multifamily proptech company, to launching JLL GPT, its own language model using AI, JLL has been testing that hypothesis. The firm has also acquired two AI startups since 2021: multifamily machine learning firm Skyline AI and sustainable building control systems platform Hank.
While proptech VC deals surged in 2021 and 2022, only $2.2B has been spent this year, according to PitchBook, well behind the $13.9B that was invested by midyear 2022 and 2021's midyear total of $19B.
There have been some recent deals on both sides of the fundraising coin. Suffolk Technologies closed a $110M fund to invest in CRE tech in July. Site Technologies, a data analytics company, last week raised $10M from investors including Prologis Ventures.
