Investment bolsters JLL’s position as a catalyst for change in the real estate industry
SAN FRANCISCO – March 27, 2018 – JLL Spark, a division of JLL (NYSE: JLL), today announced its acquisition of Stessa, a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based real estate technology platform that allows investors in income properties to easily and cost-effectively track, manage and communicate the performance of their portfolios. This is the first strategic acquisition by JLL Spark since its inception and delivers on its mission to transform the real estate industry through technology-based innovation. JLL has structured JLL Spark to operate independently and without the typical constraints of most corporate “innovation” or venture arms, providing the nimbleness and speed of a startup backed by JLL’s expertise and resources. JLL Spark is led by Mihir Shah and Yishai Lerner, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with successful track records building and investing in tech companies and have a direct line to the global CEO. JLL Spark complements JLL, allowing JLL’s core business to be more productive and drive competitive advantage.
“Optimizing a real estate portfolio can involve tedious manual effort, which is why many investors see suboptimal returns,” said Mihir Shah, co-CEO at JLL Spark. “We chose Stessa as our first acquisition because its innovative product fills a gap in the market for small-to- medium investors.” Built by real estate investors for real estate investors, Stessa (which is ‘assets’ spelled backwards) makes real estate asset management as easy as traditional investment categories like equities. While many tools provide straightforward valuation, performance benchmarking, real-time analysis and ongoing optimization to equity investors, little exists in real estate. Stessa’s platform solves this problem, providing property owners with real-time views into their holdings, resulting in increased transparency across their real estate assets. The company also streamlines the endless paperwork and reporting requirements that burden the everyday investor. “As real estate investors ourselves, we created Stessa to solve the biggest pain points associated with our own investments – ongoing asset management and portfolio optimization,” said Heath Silverman, CEO and co-founder of Stessa. “The JLL Spark acquisition will allow us to scale quickly and broaden our reach.”
Stessa has been in beta for the past year testing its product with a select group of early customers representing nearly half a billion dollars in income properties. Interested real estate investors can sign up at Stessa.com for Stessa’s next generation release, which will be available soon. For more information on Stessa and its product offerings, visit https://www.stessa.com/. For more details on JLL Spark, please visit https://spark.jll.com.
