VTS’s $200M Acquisition Of Lane Sparks A Race To Deliver The Most Comprehensive Tenant Experience Platform

VTS’s $200M Acquisition Of Lane Sparks A Race To Deliver The Most Comprehensive Tenant Experience Platform

On October 19, 2021, VTS announced that it had acquired Lane for $200 million, a workplace experience platform used by landlords such as Brookfield, Hines and Oxford Properties. This follows its $100 million acquisition of Rise Buildings, another workplace experience platform, in March 2021. This acquisition means that VTS now has 3 million solution users across 1,400 buildings in 13 countries. As part of the post-acquisition development plan, VTS will launch Lane Perks, an online marketplace offering thousands of promotions, events and services, to its VTS Rise platform, expanding the number of amenities app users can access.

Verdantix finds this acquisition to be both timely and strongly aligned to current customer demand. For example, when we asked respondents in our recent survey of North American commercial landlords what technology services they currently offer, workplace mobile apps were the most picked option (30%). Moreover, 26% plan to invest more into these solutions, 18% are currently not using them but plan to deploy a solution, and 22% are trialling or evaluating such solutions. Wider Verdantix research has confirmed that the biggest purchasing driver for such solutions is to engage tenants and monetize services.

These acquisitions mark the latest effort by software providers to build out comprehensive tenant experience solutions for commercial landlords struggling to revive occupancy back to pre-pandemic levels. Other solution providers in this area are busy building out their functionality to ensure digital tools truly engage users and keep the building experience relevant to their needs in the world of hybrid working. Witness HqO acquiring fellow tenant experience platform OfficeApp, to support its expansion into the European commercial landlord market. essensys, with its flex services software platform, recently raised £33 million ($45 million) for an aggressive phase of international expansion. As such, over the next 12 months, we predict a continuing 'arms race' amongst tenant experience app vendors for scale and broader functionality, driving a wave of acquisitions across the sector.

To find out more about customer expectations and purchasing plans in this market, read our report, North America Commercial Landlord Survey 2021: Strategies, Technology Usage And Budgets.