Brookfield Properties Parks $40 Million in FLASH
Real estate giant expands partnership with parking garage technology company
By Philip Russo August 2, 2022 9:00 am
reprints
FLASH, a global parking software company, has announced its expanded partnership with investment management giant Brookfield in a deal that includes a $40 million strategic investment from Brookfield (BN)’s technology growth investment arm.
The move seeks to leverage FLASH’s connected mobility and vehicle electrification solutions for tenants across Brookfield’s real estate in the U.S. and Canada. FLASH is used at more than 15,000 customer locations across all major U.S. cities and Canada.
FLASH’s technology includes a fully integrated stack that can be accessed via a smartphone, or a vehicle’s dashboard, thanks to the company’s integrations with almost all the major automobile makers, said Dan Sharplin, chairman and CEO of the Austin-based proptech company.
FLASH has two qualities that have made it attractive to owners such as Brookfield, Sharplin said.
“We have the parking technology to address every use case in the paid parking world,” Sharplin said. “That includes everything from a local valet stand, to a surface lot, to a large event venue like a giant stadium or Madison Square Garden.
“The other characteristic that makes us distinctly different is we’re the only company that’s actually integrated into the digital supply network. If you think about this as a two-sided marketplace, on one side there’s this unique inventory that various parties want to access, whether that’s a monthly parker, a tenant, a transient parker, or someone that’s looking for EV charging.”
On the supply side, the company’s customers are large asset owners and managers, and parking operators, he said.
The 10-year-old FLASH in April acquired Ticketech, a New York City-based valet parking technology company, which expanded FLASH’s Mobility Hub Operating System to the city’s $22 billion dollar parking market.
As for the Brookfield partnership expansion, Sharplin said that came about because FLASH has a long-standing vendor relationship with the company.
“[Brookfield] was our top aspiration for a strategic partnership,” said Sharplin. “They immediately got what we were doing and they have a very strong vision around the intersection of building management and consumer experience, and electric vehicles and autonomy. They have a huge presence in the renewable energy space, and all those things inform this partnership, because that’s all center of the plate for us.”
Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.
