<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12215875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="camber-energy-stock" source="Orion">Camber Energy stock</keyword> lost more than half its value Tuesday following a short-seller report. </li><li>Investment firm <keyword id="12251245" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="kerrisdale-capital" source="Orion">Kerrisdale Capital</keyword> claimed the company would "once again" be a penny stock. </li><li>The Houston-based oil-and-gas company became a <keyword id="11918412" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meme-stock" source="Orion">meme stock</keyword> last month. </li></ul>Shares of newly minted meme stock <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cei-stock">Camber Energy</a> lost more than half their value Tuesday after an investment firm released a short-seller report that claimed the energy company was "in the middle of a death spiral.""This one has something for everyone: death-spiral financing, a fake CFO, delinquent filings, fired auditors 3 wks ago, insolvent energy assets &amp; the saddest family of entrepreneurs in the cleantech vaporware space," New York-based <a href="https://twitter.com/KerrisdaleCap/status/1445405812931846148">Kerrisdale Capital wrote in a tweet</a> about its report. <keyword id="12215874" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="camber-energy" source="Orion">Camber Energy</keyword> stock fell as much as 63% to $1.11 at 12:27 p.m. in New York. In a statement following the Kerrisdale report, Camber Energy's chief executive officer said he can't comment on the stock move."I can say, however, that our business relationships are legitimate and that we are firmly committed to improving the organization's capitalization and executing on our growth strategy," said James Doris. "With respect to the Company's public filings, our objective is for the Company to become current on or before the expiry of the Initial Cure Period as established by the New York Stock Exchange, which is on or about November 19, 2021."Data from <keyword id="12215876" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fintel" source="Orion">Fintel</keyword>.io shows short interest in Camber Energy stock jumped to 24.4 million shares from 6.1 million shares in September, giving the company a 23.5% short interest as percent of float. That same month, retail traders, known for banding together to squeeze short sellers, helped drive a more than 600% rally in the Houston-based oil and gas company.<a href="https://www.kerrisdalecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Camber-Energy-Inc.-CEI.pdf">In its short-seller report</a>, Kerrisdale claimed the most "fascinating" part of the company's problems is its share dilution, saying the market is "badly mistaken about Camber's share count and ignorant of its terrifying capital structure." Kerrisdale estimated the company's fully diluted market capitalization is $900 million."Camber isn't worth $900 million," Kerrisdale said. "If it looks like a penny stock, and it acts like a penny stock, it is a penny stock. Camber has been a penny stock before - no more than a month ago, in fact - and we expect that it will be once again."Following the short-seller report, a well-known retail trader known on Twitter as "Tray's Trades," called Kerrisdale's move a "pump and dump." The stock trended among retail traders on Twitch on Tuesday, data from TopStonks.com showed.According to its <a href="https://www.camber.energy/about">website</a>, Camber Energy, through its majority-owned subsidiary <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/vkin-stock?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingestgest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Viking Energy Group</a>, owns a working interest in more than 145 oil and gas fields across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Camber Energy plummets 63% after short-seller report takes the wind out of latest meme-stock play

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12215875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="camber-energy-stock" source="Orion">Camber Energy stock</keyword> jumped 29% Thursday amid retail-trader hype. </li><li>The Houston, Texas-based <keyword id="11896879" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="oil" source="Orion">oil</keyword> and gas company is heavily shorted, according to <keyword id="12215876" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fintel" source="Orion">Fintel</keyword>.io data.</li><li>The run-up in shares also comes as oil and gas prices have surged. </li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cei-stock">Camber Energy</a> stock jumped as much as 29% Thursday as retail traders hyped up shares on social media while data pointed to a potential short-squeeze opportunity. The Houston-based oil and gas company was trending among <keyword id="11908908" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="twitch" source="Orion">Twitch</keyword> users on Thursday, according to TopStonks.com. Quiver Quantitative data showed the company was also the fifth most-mentioned stock on the r/WallStreetBets subreddit Wednesday with 91 mentions. "CEI to Pluto," <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/WallStreetbetsELITE/comments/pygqeo/premarket_watchlist_0930_sdpi_no_news_oil_pump/heu4gsj/">one Redditor said</a> of the stock's ticker on r/WallStreetbetsELITE. Meanwhile, data from Fintel.io shows short interest in <keyword id="12215874" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="camber-energy" source="Orion">Camber Energy</keyword> stock rose four-fold to 24.4 million shares from 6.1 million shares in September, giving the company a 23.5% short interest as percent of float. Retail traders mobilized on social media have been known for targeting companies with high short interest rates in the past. But now, data suggests retail traders have <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/reddit-traders-scared-short-sellers-away-amid-meme-stock-squeezes-2021-6">scared short sellers away</a> from most mid-size companies.Camber Energy, through its majority-owned subsidiary <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/vkin-stock">Viking Energy Group</a>, owns a working interest in more than 145 oil and gas fields across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, <a href="https://www.camber.energy/about">the company said</a> on its site.The rally in its shares comes as US oil and gas prices have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oil-prices-energy-shortage-wti-brent-ubs-bank-of-america-2021-9">reached multi-year highs</a> amid supply-side issues. Camber did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Camber, along with <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/spce-stock">Virgin Galactic</a>, led gains among <keyword id="11915972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meme-stocks" source="Orion">meme stocks</keyword> Thursday, while other well-known memes like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gme-stock">GameStop</a> took a backseat.

Camber Energy spikes 29% as retail traders target the heavily shorted name as the next meme stock

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11937112" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gamestop" source="Orion">GameStop</keyword> and <keyword id="11911241" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="amc" source="Orion">AMC</keyword> dominated meme-stock headlines in 2021, but <keyword id="11994572" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="retail-traders" source="Orion">retail traders</keyword> rallied behind other stocks, too.</li><li>Fast-food chain <keyword id="11920806" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wendys" source="Orion">Wendy's</keyword>, for example, had a short-lived stint as a meme stock thanks to its "tendies."</li><li>Other under-the-radar stocks included a couple oil companies and a biotech firm.</li></ul>Retail traders didn't just drive massive rallies in <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gme-stock">GameStop</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amc-stock">AMC</a> this year -- they rallied behind lesser known companies, too. The meme-stock phenomenon began in earnest in January when millions of retail traders mobilized on Reddit investing thread <keyword id="11910044" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wall-street-bets" source="Orion">Wall Street Bets</keyword> and bought shares of ailing companies to reap massive rewards and stick it to <keyword id="11898780" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="short-sellers" source="Orion">short sellers</keyword>.GameStop and AMC remain the leaders of the meme-stock pack, but here are five short-lived, under-the-radar <keyword id="11915972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meme-stocks" source="Orion">meme stocks</keyword> you may have forgotten about or missed.<h3>1. A famous fast-food chain</h3><div type="image" title="wendys drive thru" height="2400" width="4800" msid="88618890" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/wen-stock">Wendy's</a> briefly surged in June after one Redditor explained why the fast-food chain was "<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/meme-stocks-amc-gamestop-blackberry-clover-second-day-gains-2021-6">literally the perfect stock</a>" for Wall Street Bets: the company appears in memes, and it serves serves chicken "tendies" (a double entendre that refers to both the meal and a retail-trader term for monetary gains). The stock pared gains from the hype and is up about 10% for the year.<h3>2. A Danish biotech company</h3><div type="image" title="Science research in laboratory" height="1000" width="2000" msid="88618893" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/orph-stock">Orphazyme</a>, a Danish biotech company researching treatment for rare diseases, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/orphazyme-danish-biotech-stock-surged-1387-amid-meme-stock-chatter-2021-6">surged more than 1,000%</a> in a single day in June for no apparent reason. Reddit chatter about the stock jumped at the time. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/goldman-sachs-bought-into-danish-biotech-meme-stock-orphazyme-2021-6">Goldman Sachs</a> got in on the craze and took a 5.58% stake in the company and then a day later sold below the 5% threshold that would trigger a filing. But shares have tumbled 76% in 2021.<h3>3. A tiny Texas oil driller</h3><div type="image" title="Oil pumps at sunset, industrial oil pumps equipment." height="1993" width="3986" msid="88618895" hostid="261"></div>Torchlight Energy Resources, now part of Meta Materials, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/torchlight-stock-price-surges-as-reddit-newly-minted-meme-2021-6">more than tripled its share price</a> in June when the company became a top-trending stock on Reddit investing threads. Torchlight, then a Plano, Texas-based oil driller, quickly cashed in on the hype and sold $100 million worth of new shares amid the rally. The company closed its <a href="https://www.investorwire.com/investor-news-breaks/investornewsbreaks-torchlight-energy-resources-inc-nasdaq-trch-closes-1-9-billion-merger-with-meta-materials-inc-nasdaq-mmat/">$1.9 billion merger</a> with <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/mmat-stock">Meta Materials</a> in July and now trades under the MMAT stock ticker.<h3>4. A headphone maker at odds with Apple</h3><div type="image" title="Koss Fitclips, $11.99." height="555" width="1111" msid="88618897" hostid="261"></div>Headphone-maker <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/koss-stock">Koss</a> was caught up in the January meme-stock trading frenzy and surged nearly 2,000%. The stock traded in a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/koss-stock-price-jumps-patent-victory-apple-meme-stocks-gamestop-2021-10">meme-like manner</a> again in October when the company won a patent battle against <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock">Apple</a>. Shares of the headphone-maker have shot up more than 220% this year.<h3>5. Another Texas oil company</h3><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO - Pump jacks drill for oil in the Monterey Shale, California, U.S. on April 29, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo" height="400" width="800" msid="88618899" hostid="261"></div>Torchlight wasn't the only oil driller that lit up Reddit this year. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cei-stock">Camber Energy</a>, a Houston, Texas-based oil and gas company, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/camber-stock-price-retail-traders-target-next-short-squeeze-2021-9">surged in September</a> as retail traders pointed to a potential short-squeeze opportunity. A short-seller report from New York-based Kerrisdale Capital just days later <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/camber-energy-stock-price-short-seller-targets-meme-stock-2021-10">took the wind out of the meme-stock</a> play, though. The stock lost more than 3% for the year.

GameStop and AMC made 2021 the year of the meme stock. Here are 5 other unlikely companies retail traders sent to the moon.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12264857" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="smiledirectclub" source="Orion">SmileDirectClub</keyword> stock is on track for three days of gains thanks to retail-trader hype.</li><li>Day traders want to squeeze shorts betting against the Nashville, Tennessee-based company.</li><li>The stock rallied 15% on Wednesday alone. </li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/sdc-stock">SmileDirectClub</a> stock has soared 33% in the last three days as retail traders on Reddit investing threads hype its short-squeeze opportunity. The orthodontics company has been among the top discussed stocks on Reddit's Wall Street Bets this week as retail traders pushed the idea of a <keyword id="11918411" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="short-squeeze" source="Orion">short squeeze</keyword>, according to Quiver Quantitative and HypeEquity data. Shares surged 15% on Wednesday alone and continued to rally early Thursday, trading up 1% at $6.83 at 8:52 a.m. in New York. Even with this week's rally, SmileDirectClub stock remains below its Jan. 27 high of $14.99. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company has a 34% short interest rate with less than two days to cover, <a href="https://fintel.io/ss/us/sdc">Fintel.io data show</a>. Retail traders have been known to target companies with high short-interest rates in an effort to hurt, or "squeeze," investors who bet against the stock. The first such example was <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gme-stock">GameStop</a> in January, which had more than 100% of its floating shares shorted at one point, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-retail-trading-shortselling-explainer/explainer-how-were-more-than-100-of-gamestops-shares-shorted-idUSKBN2AI2DD">Reuters reported</a>. Reddit retail traders called the epic runup in the share price the "mother of all short squeezes."Short sellers have begun to pull back from betting against mid-size companies, though, as retail traders have tended to target those for a price surge. Now, fewer and fewer small- to mid-size companies have high short-interest rates, a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/reddit-traders-scared-short-sellers-away-amid-meme-stock-squeezes-2021-6">June report from Barclays showed</a>. But some - like <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cei-stock">Camber Energy</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/camber-energy-stock-price-short-seller-targets-meme-stock-2021-10">which surged and then dropped</a> this week amid a standoff between retail traders and short sellers - are becoming <keyword id="11915972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meme-stocks" source="Orion">meme stocks</keyword> thanks to their high short interest. SmileDirectClub is the latest example. The company, which went public in 2019, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsmiledirectclub.com%2F">helps customers align their teeth</a> through an at-home process that SmileDirectClub boasts is a fraction of the price of competitors like Invisalign.

SmileDirectClub soars 33% in 3 days as retail traders on social media hope for a short squeeze

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gen Z investors are driving interest in penny stocks, S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence said in a report this week. </li><li>Penny stocks are cheap to buy for young traders who have less money to invest than their older counterparts do. </li><li>Gen Z investors also use fractional investing to buy large-cap shares such as Tesla. </li></ul>Gen Z traders tend to have less money than their older counterparts do, and inexpensive stocks serve as their main avenue into investing, according to an S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence report. Their penchant for penny stocks, interest in how <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword> work, and relative lack of capital for investing are some of the "unique characteristics" of Gen Z investors, S&amp;P Global said in its <a href="https://cdn.roxhillmedia.com/production/email/attachment/900001_910000/616532e96b852f3c426c57c0fad39984267438f3.pdf">US Digital Investing report</a> published this week. "The challenges confronting young investors could explain why penny stocks were the most heavily traded equities on major U.S. exchanges in nine of the first 11 months of 2021," Tom Mason, senior research analyst at S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence, wrote in the report. "With penny stocks, one can buy a relatively large block of shares on the cheap." Cannabis producer <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/sndl-stock">Sundial Growers</a> (which traded around $0.56 a share on Thursday), workflow automation company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/xela-stock">Exela Technologies</a> ($0.57) and oil producer <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/cei-stock">Camber Energy</a> ($0.44) were among the most heavily traded stocks last year. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amc-stock">AMC Entertainment</a> followed top-volume stock Sundial, even though the movie theater chain's shares trade above $15.The Gen Z stocks tended to have low percentages of institutional ownership, S&amp;P Global noted. AMC was the highest at about 30%, well below the 60% average for all US stocks traded on major exchanges. They also have disclosure and listing issues. Camber Energy recently won an extension from the New York Stock Exchange to file certain financial reports. And Sundial is working to avoid a potential delisting from Nasdaq as the bid price on common shares had fallen below $1 for 30 consecutive days. But Gen Z was undeterred. And to illustrate the new driving force in penny stocks, S&amp;P pointed out that in the third quarter of 2021 Gen Z was the only cohort to have Camber Energy in its top 20 holdings. The findings were based on an analysis of more than 6 million accounts by Apex Clearing, a provider of back-end services for retail trading apps.Despite their interest in penny stocks, young investors aren't shutting out large-cap names from their portfolios. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a>, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock">Apple</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amzn-stock">Amazon</a> are among their holdings, aided in part by retail trading apps offering fractional investing, a feature that lets investors buy a portion of high-priced stocks. "It seems, then, that some retail traders simply like penny stock trading, perhaps as a long-term, moon shot investment or as a way of making bets on short-term price movements," wrote Mason.

Gen Z investors gravitate toward penny stocks for a cheap way to start building wealth, says S&P Global

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US government should "do nothing" about regulating cryptocurrencies, <keyword id="11897862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword> said Tuesday.</li><li>"I don't think it's like the second coming of the Messiah, which some people seem to think," he said.</li><li>China banned <keyword id="11893898" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crypto" source="Orion">crypto</keyword> because the country doesn't like their aim of reducing the power of centralization, he said.</li></ul>Elon Musk said he thinks US authorities should stand away from regulating cryptocurrencies, as their intervention could hold back growth."It is not possible to, I think, destroy crypto, but it is possible for governments to slow down its advancement," he said <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESIjxVudERY">in an interview</a> at the Code Conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.New York Times columnist Kara Swisher asked Musk what the US government should do about regulating the industry."I would say, do nothing," he said, adding, "Just let it fly."Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has pushed for greater oversight of the "Wild West" market for digital assets, saying <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/sec-crypto-gary-gensler-regulation-trading-platforms-rules-oversight-2021-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unless crypto exchanges are regulated</a>, they risk losing public trust.And unlike Musk, some crypto industry leaders believe tighter scrutiny will be a benefit by giving investors more clarity and protection. Coinbase is <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/coinbase-crypto-sec-regulation-exchange-brian-armstrong-lend-blockfi-defi-2021-09" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">preparing to pitch a regulatory framework</a> to authorities, while billionaire investor Mark Cuban has acknowledged that <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/mark-cuban-smart-contracts-most-likely-fraud-source-identity-proof-2021-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">crypto regulation built around existing fraud laws</a> isn't a bad thing.Musk, who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-rise-of-elon-musk-2016-7?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">co-founded payment service provider PayPal in 1999</a>, told Swisher he hopes cryptocurrencies will reduce "error and latency" in the established financial system. But he was measured in his hopes for the difference they could make."I wouldn't say that I'm some massive cryptocurrency expert," he said. "There's some value in cryptocurrency. I don't think it's like the second coming of the Messiah, which some people seem to think."The Tesla CEO also spoke about <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/china-crypto-bans-cryptocurrency-transactions-forbids-foreign-exchanges-service-citizens-2021-9">China declaring crypto-related transactions illegal</a> and its crackdown on crypto mining. He suggested the latest ban was a result of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-suggests-chinas-crypto-crackdown-is-about-maintaining-power-2021-9?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Communist Party's concern</a> that digital assets threaten its grip."It would appear that they don't love cryptocurrency," he said. "I suppose cryptocurrency is fundamentally aimed at reducing the power of a centralized government, and they don't like that. That's my guess."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-power-shortage-halts-apple-tesla-suppliers-stresses-supply-chain-2021-9?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">The energy crisis in China</a> could have played a part in the government imposing tougher measures, Musk said."I think part of it may actually be due to electricity shortages in many parts of China," he said. "A lot of South China right now is having random power outages, because the power demand is higher than expected."The billionaire <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> CEO disclosed in February that the electric-vehicle maker had made a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/tesla-buys-bitcoin-elon-musk-stock-accept-form-of-payment-2021-2">$1.5 billion bet on bitcoin</a>, and would accept the cryptocurrency in payment for cars. But only three months later, Tesla walked back on its decision and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-bans-bitcoin-payments-due-to-impact-on-environment-2021-5?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;r=US&amp;IR=T=US&amp;IR=T">stopped accepting bitcoin payments</a> given that its energy-intensive impact on the environment was concerning.The "Musk effect" had roiled the crypto ecosystem earlier this year, when almost every related tweet from the Tesla boss would send token prices either soaring or tumbling. Swisher asked him whether he thinks the influence of his tweets on crypto prices is a good thing."If it goes up, I suppose it is," Musk said.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-meme-stocks-reddit-tesla-tsla-camber-energy-cei-sofi-2021-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Top 16 meme stocks this week on Reddit: Tesla takes off, Camber Energy explodes higher, and SoFi Technologies sees surging interest</a>

Elon Musk wants US regulators to just let cryptocurrencies fly - saying the assets aren't the 'second coming of the Messiah'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d9f4b493b33a728e5153006-2222/dock 77-17.jpg" border="0" alt="Dock 77 17" data-mce-source="Hollis Johnson/Business Insider" />Hollis Johnson/Business InsiderThe event was the public debut of Dock 72, which was built by Rudin Development and Boston Properties with WeWork as the anchor tenant.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cretech-new-york-attendees-what-expect-dock-72-this-week-2019-10">At CREtech New York</a> earlier this month, more than 2,000 attendees from 1,000 companies and 35 countries gathered at Brooklyn Navy Yard's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-of-weworks-dock-72-two-weeks-before-its-valuation-2019-9">Dock 72</a>, according to organizers.</li><li>Business Insider attended the event and spoke with more than a dozen people: investors, startup founders, venture fund operators, and real estate incumbents. These conversations circled around how real estate tech has entered its adolescence.</li><li>Another common theme was the increasing emphasis on amenities and tenant engagement as a way for landlords to stand out, though some were skeptical of how that will translate outside of urban centers.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summarymary">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cretech-new-york-attendees-what-expect-dock-72-this-week-2019-10">At the CREtech conference</a> in New York earlier this month, which came on the heels of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-invested-record-246-billion-in-proptech-q3-of-2019-2019-10">a report showing record funding for proptech</a> and a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-inside-adam-neumanns-wework-reveal-a-wild-culture-2019-9">series of dramatic setbacks for WeWork</a>, the surge of interest in the intersection of real estate and technology was on full display.More than 2,000 attendees from 1,000 companies and 35 countries came to the Brooklyn Navy Yard's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-of-weworks-dock-72-two-weeks-before-its-valuation-2019-9">Dock 72</a> for the conference on Oct. 16-17, according to event organizers."The exhibition area was probably about four times as large as last year," said David Wong, cofounder and CEO of Hong Kong-based coworking marketplace BOOQED. Business Insider attended the event, where I spoke with more than a dozen people, including investors, startup founders, venture fund operators, and incumbent real estate companies.These conversations all circled around one central takeaway: real estate tech has entered its adolescence. It's had its first big question mark in WeWork, but meanwhile it's attracting investment outside of proptech-focused funds, and landlords are much more actively investing in and using technology.Another common theme was the increasing importance of amenities and tenant engagement as a way for landlords to stand out.<h2>WeWork in white boxes</h2>The event was the public debut of Dock 72, which was built by Rudin Development and Boston Properties with WeWork as the anchor tenant. When I visited the building at the end of August, I had to wear a hardhat as I walked around the unfinished lobby. By last week, the lobby was complete, though WeWork was the only tenant who had moved in. The conference was held on the 10th floor, which was still unfinished - a "white box" in industry terms - without drywall or carpeting. This didn't have much of a negative impact on the event, though I overheard some grumbling about it. Personally, I thought of it as a slightly-on-the-nose metaphor for an industry that's approaching, but has not quite reached, maturity. The MC for the second day, Paige Pitcher from Hines Office of Innovation, had her own metaphor for the space. "White-box space like this, we get to do the best white-space thinking," Pitcher said. Even though the one WeWork speaker who was originally on the schedule was no longer talking at the event (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-people-in-adam-neumanns-inner-circle-left-wework-2019-9">or working with WeWork</a>), the company's presence was felt. The speakers mostly avoided mentioning it, though a short remark at the end of the last panel led to CREtech founder Michael Beckerman to yell out from the crowd that they had been able to avoid talking about it so far. Attendees, and speakers, were concerned that the coworking company's sinking reputation could take WeWork down with it."There are a lot of people that feel validated that that event occurred, and my concern is they'll go back and hibernate and will say that all of this will pass," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/omers-ventures-hires-michael-yang-comcast-ventures-silicon-valley-2019-1">Michael Yang, managing partner at OMERS Ventures</a> said at the conference's final panel. David Weiden, partner at Khosla Ventures, said that the company was getting "more news than it actually has impact," but he did say that WeWork has shown that raising a lot of money is not necessarily a sign of a sound business. "It's too bad that it's a badge of honor to do a big financing round," Weiden said. Other speakers had praise for the company, or at least for the changes it has brought to the industry.<h2>'New York problems'</h2>"WeWork has let the genie out of the bottle," Mihir Shah, co-CEO of JLL Technologies, said during a panel on the first day.JLL Technologies, a recently announced reorganization of all technology at the second-largest commercial real estate firm, is a sign that the biggest players in the space are ready to go all-in on tech. Shah said that WeWork signaled to landlords that they needed to pay attention to their tenants. "There's fundamental value created by bringing awareness to what tenants want," Shah said at the panel. When I asked Shah afterwards what the value was, he told me that tenant's data is useful for any kind of commercial real estate, citing the example of an office operator using data to choose the types of retail to add to a building's ground floor. Shah was talking about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deloitte-ranks-tech-tenant-experience-top-cre-the-biggest-players-2019-10">tenant engagement platforms</a> that look to centralize amenity usage, administrative office tasks, and data collection for landlords. JLL has its own app, JiLL, for conference booking, navigating a building, and submitting facilities requests. It has left the more amenity-heavy applications to venture capital fund JLL Spark, which invested in tenant engagement company HqO's 2018 seed round. Walking around the exhibition hall, it was clear that a lot of companies were jockeying for a chance to be a landlord's choice tenant-engagement service. Most had slickly-designed software, though Livly, which operates in offices and multi-family buildings, also actually runs the operations for building amenities like gyms. One executive at a tenant engagement company described the category as an attempt to create a building API (tech speak for the connective tissue in software) to gather data and enable coming improvements in machine learning and AI. But one VC told me that they were concerned the tenant engagement software was too focused on "New York problems," or the small sliver at the top of the income chain that expects high levels of service from their Class A office or apartment landlord.Employee Nexus, a spin-off of office services company Planned Companies, was showing off its SMS-based communication platform. While it was first developed in-house to communicate with custodial staff, the company is now marketing it to others with similar workforces and to workforce-housing landlords. While the tech won't be used to schedule any in-building massage sessions, it is an example of companies finding ways to connect workforce housing tenants with landlords. <h2>'Many more suits'</h2>Another main theme was the influx of incumbents - and their cash. "First thing I noticed when I stepped in there on Wednesday was how many more suits were walking around the CREtech event," Bobby Goodman, cofounder of leasing marketplace Truss, said. This was at least his third CREtech conference, and he saw the choice of clothing as an indication that the legacy players are now taking this space seriously.On my way to Dock 72 for the CREtech conference, I met my first suit type as we both boarded the ferry at Pier 11. To be fair, he wasn't in a full suit and he didn't work at any of the big real estate companies or investment banks. This was his first proptech event, and he was looking to see if there were opportunities for the family fund he invests for. We reconnected after the event, and while he was bullish on the innovation and change that's coming to real estate, he said he was "very hesitant" to invest right now. He cited the number of adjacent companies, the fragmentation in real estate, and the volatility of investing in such a tech-poor industry, where one development could have a quick, large impact with "a small incremental change" as reasons why he wasn't ready to invest just yet. "In a weird way, I would almost be more encouraged to go out and start a company," he said, citing his belief that the space is poised for success in the long term. Investors weren't the only suits spotted; multiple attendees noted the increase in real estate developers and operators at the event compared to years past. Given these are the potential customers for proptech companies, that was a big deal. Real estate's reputation for being slow to embrace tech seems to be gradually changing. Zac Rosenberg, CEO and founder of digital multi-family lender TapCap and former director of Greystone Labs, sees the space maturing, but still finds technology is outpacing the actual concerns of real estate. "It's hard for companies to sell a solution to a problem many groups do not believe they have," Rosenberg wrote over email after the event. He used data as an example."Everyone is selling data! But the shortcoming is, a lot of institutions in the space just aren't that data driven. They do spend a lot on data services, but the penetration (and thus, stickiness) these data vendors have is very shallow." Some of the most cutting-edge tech at the event may need to wait for incumbent real estate to catch up.David Weiden from Khosla took a long view on the trend while speaking on the panel. He reminded the crowd that before the last few years of enthusiasm, there were other companies creating proptech, even if the name was not common. He used portfolio company View, which has been creating smart glass for windows since 2007, as an example. His view was to preach caution. He described most companies that have started in the last 10 years as "not mature," and asked the audience to decouple unicorn-sized valuations from viable, sustainable business practices. He predicted that over the next five years, five proptech companies will prove themselves to be sustainable, long-term businesses. While many at the conference were focused on how real estate was finally beginning to adopt technology, Weiden's posture challenges the view that incumbents have been "asleep at the wheel." Instead, he said that proptech should be putting much more energy into encouraging people to use new tech."There's too much emphasis on 'I built a better mousetrap,' but not enough on the cost of getting people to use the better mousetrap," Weiden said.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-proptech-vc-camber-creeks-investment-thesis-2019-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">VC Camber Creek, which has steered clear of co-working, explains how it invests in the midst of a proptech gold rush</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deloitte-ranks-tech-tenant-experience-top-cre-the-biggest-players-2019-10" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">Landlords want to bulk up their office amenities, and a rush of startups are selling them tech to do it</a></li></ul> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-net-worth-singer-millionaire-makes-spends-money-wealth-2019-4">Taylor Swift is the world's highest-paid celebrity. 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