VTS, a leasing, marketing, asset management, and tenant experience platform, is to acquire Lane, a workplace experience platform used by several top landlords including Brookfield, Oxford, and Hines.
With the acquisition, VTS has now invested hundreds of millions of dollars in tenant experience, more than all other proptech companies combined. The acquisition will strengthen VTS’ existing market-leading tenant experience solution, VTS Rise, enabling both Rise and Lane customers to benefit seamlessly from the combined technology. In addition, VTS will add new tenant engagement capabilities to VTS Rise including Lane Perks which provides building occupiers with access to a private network of thousands of promotions, events, products, and services.
The acquisition is the next step in VTS’ continuing effort to ensure global landlords have the best-in-class technology they need to operate as efficiently as possible and create the best environment for tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic as they begin to return to the office.
With this acquisition, VTS will have by far the largest global customer base for tenant experience, with an addressable three million users across 1,400 buildings in 13 countries using VTS, making it the global market leader. In addition, the combined team will have the largest team in the industry from software engineers, to deployment professionals, to perks and marketing experts focused on tenant engagement and adoption across its customers’ properties.
Nick Romito, CEO of VTS, says: “Over the last year, I have spoken with many of the owners of the 80,000 buildings using VTS across the globe. Tenant experience is the critical solution for them in the next 12 months as they help their tenants get back into the office productively and effectively in this new world. Success in tenant experience and engagement requires both incredible focus on integrations with building operations as well as world-class tenant engagement.
“The value our customers already receive from our platform with new capabilities from Lane will be more critical than ever as landlords focus on renewing existing tenants and leasing space in what will be a highly competitive market for tenants over the coming months.”
As part of the acquisition, Clint Robinson, CEO of Lane, will join the VTS team as a Managing Director and existing Lane customers will benefit from expanded support and R&D investment to deliver even more capabilities to their large customer base. VTS expects to integrate Lane into VTS Rise, enabling both Rise and Lane customers to seamlessly access additional capabilities. Lane has a team of over 100 people based in Toronto. With this acquisition, this triples VTS’ presence in Canada, now with over 160 Toronto-based employees.
Clint Robinson, CEO of Lane, says: “We were incredibly impressed by how closely the VTS team works with their customers from top-to-bottom. We want to deliver the same in-depth relationships to our customers as well as give them access to the broader VTS platform. We’re delighted to join VTS and leverage these relationships to give our customers an even better experience.”
Ben Brown, Managing Partner and Head of US Office, Brookfield Properties, says: “Combining Lane with VTS Rise’s existing tenant experience solution could not come at a better time for landlords as we look to address the needs of tenants returning to the office. The expectations of tenants continue to change, and it is increasingly important for leading global landlords to explore and implement new technology to help us meet their changing needs. As a current customer of both companies, this acquisition will be hugely impactful, connecting landlords, property managers and tenants in meaningful ways, while providing pivotal portfolio insights within the VTS platform that we use everyday.”
