LOS ANGELES—CBRE Group Inc. and Kahua have entered into a global, strategic agreement whereby CBRE will use Kahua to manage a wide range of projects across its global client base. The agreement between CBRE and the Alpharetta, GA-based project management firm, which utilizes a cloud-based platform, calls for CBRE to make an equity investment in Kahua and to put an executive on its board of directors.

Through the long-term agreement, CBRE and Kahua will continue to jointly develop application technology to address the requirements of real estate occupiers, owners, contractors, architects and engineers operating within the project management supply chain. CBRE has already launched projects in the Kahua Network with clients in markets across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific regions, and currently is training over 5,000 project managers worldwide on the platform.

“Kahua is a modern, intuitive, cloud-based solution that dramatically changes how projects are executed and managed, and holds the potential to unlock significant efficiencies, data and insights,” says Sandeep Davé, chief digital and technology officer for CBRE's Global Workplace Solutions business. “After careful review and testing, we determined that Kahua provides the premier global collaborative network for real estate and construction project management and plan to implement it internally and with our global customers. This relationship is another example of how CBRE, as the market leader, is bringing to bear transformative technology solutions to the corporate real estate industry.”

Previous investments CBRE has made in the tech space include a pair of acquisitions earlier this year. In January, the company announced it would acquire Floored Inc., a leading producer of SaaS (software as a service) solutions, including scalable, interactive 3D graphics technology, for the global commercial real estate industry. This past April, CBRE said it would go from being a longtime client of Mainstream Software Inc., which provides SaaS technology solutions for facilities management operations, to being Mainstream's owner.

Earlier, CBRE had acquired Environmental Systems Inc., a leading systems integrator and provider of energy management services; and Forum Analytics, which provides modeling and mapping solutions that assist retailers and other firms in planning their location strategies on a local, regional and national basis. This past May, CBRE was among the anchor investors in Fifth Wall Ventures Management, reportedly the first significant venture capital fund entirely focused on backing promising new technologies for the built environment.

“CBRE is an innovative leader in our industry,” says Scott Unger, CEO of Kahua. “We are excited to extend the Kahua Network to CBRE and their global customers. Our strategic relationship with CBRE will further our mission to deliver value and productivity improvements to the real estate, design and construction industry.”

Unger and Kahua's co-founders have more than 20 years' experience in the sector, having founded Constructware in 1997, thus offering the construction industry's first internet-based collaborative project management solution. After selling Constructware to Autodesk in 2006, Unger and six other members of the company's team launched Kahua in 2009, completing their first production release in 2014.

Today, Kahua—or “platform,” in Hawaiian—has over 2,500 customers ranging from the largest owners and general contractors to small subcontractors, according to its website. Additionally, there are over 50 apps in Kahua's public kStore and over 600 private applications that have been developed by customers or certified Kahua Partners.

Instant Insights /

CBRE, Kahua Partner on Cloud-Based Project Management

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