Real estate is at a tech ”tipping point” says Uber investor heading up JLL’s new proptech business

The Silicon Valley veteran heading up JLL's new proptech arm believes that commercial real estate is at a tech "tipping point."

Mihir Shah, formerly vice president of mobile at Groupon and an early investor in Uber took on the role as co-chief executive of JLL Spark earlier this week with fellow Bay Area veteran Yishai Lerner.

He said now was the time for the major technology players to get involved in the property sector: "We realise that commercial real estate is really at a tipping point in terms of tech making an impact on and improving experience for clients. It is really exciting for us to take tech to a more traditional industry. It is similar to how the transportation sector was disrupted by companies like Uber.

"The joke is that traditional companies will often hire some innovation officers but won't have a real initiative where they are actually planning to build things. With JLL we felt they were very serious."