Jared Kushner-backed tech firm opens in Dublin

WiredScore, a real estate tech company in which US president Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner has a stake, has this week launched in Dublin as it seeks to reap the benefits from increased activity in the commercial property sector.

The company, which was established in New York in 2013 with early support from then mayor Michael Bloomberg, evaluates office buildings for the speed and reliability of their internet connections.

WiredScore, which has offices in New York, London and New York, is to initially service the Irish market from England. However, it has plans to establish a dedicated office in Dublin in the coming months.

"We're moving to Ireland because of a high level of demand from clients in Dublin. We launched in the UK in October 2015 and news of what we were doing quickly spread to the Irish market. We started getting so many phone calls both from developers looking to show off how well connected their buildings were that we decided it would be a good market for us, "William Newton, EMEA director of WiredScore told The Irish Times.

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Empire State Building

More than 750 properties totalling 300 million square feet of office space in over 80 cities have achieved Wired certification. Properties certified include the Empire State Building in Manhattan, One Market Plaza in San Francisco and the Shard in London.

The WiredScore certification system is meant to create a benchmark enabling landlords, agents and tenants to have a good reading of a building’s internet connectivity potential.

In much the same ways that certification exists for energy efficiency, WiredScore measures the number and quality of internet service providers as well as the bandwidth capabilities and reliability of connections that are based on a building’s infrastructure.

“In the short-term there is enormous development already going on in Dublin and there’s also the likelihood of an increase in activity due to Brexit as Dublin is doing great at positioning itself as a natural place for businesses leaving London to go,” said Mr Newton.

"In addition, Dublin has done a fantastic job of establishing itself as a tech hub for Europe and it can entrench that reputation by showing off the high levels of connectivity that its buildings have," he added.

Progressive landlords

Mr Newton, who described Dublin as “an impressively well-connected city” said the capital boosted a set of progressive landlords progressive landlords who value the importance of internet connectivity as a selling point.

“We’ve been delighted by the way in which landlords have responded. We’ve certified over 2.75 million square feet in the capital so far and we will be launching next week with 11 major landlords here. Ahead of our official launch we will have certified over 22 per cent of the whole development pipeline in Dublin. I think that is a real commitment by landlords to focus on this,” he added.

Mr Kushner, one of president Trump's closest advisors, disclosed earlier this year that he held a managing membership in WiredScore's owner, Broadband Proliferation Partners.

The Wall Street Journal reported in April that Mr Kushner is seeking to sell his stake in the company – which is valued at $5 million to $25 million – as part of his efforts to divest himself of his many business ties.

“He [Kushner] is in the process of divesting himself of the company. He was an initial investor but has never been involved in the day-to-day running of WiredScore,” said Mr Newton.