Great Portland Estates, Patrizia, Revcap and Assura are among a group of institutional investors that have ploughed $23m (£17.5m) into proptech VC Pi Labs’ third fund.
It is the first close of the $75m fund, which Pi Labs hopes to have fully invested by the end of 2020.
The third fund, which is expected to reach a final close at more than five times Pi Labs’ previous fund, has a primary focus to invest into early stage proptech start-ups across Europe and the UK.
Capital will also be deployed to support scaling proptech companies targeting mid to later stage investments.
Pi Labs invests in start-ups which use technology solutions to enhance any stage of the real estate value chain. Key areas of focus for the current fund include sustainability, future of work, future of retail, commercial real estate technologies, construction technology, and smart cities.
Founder, chairman and chief executive Faisal Butt said: “Our plan is to continue to build on the thriving proptech ecosystem we have created in Europe, which will help some of the world’s best proptech founders to scale and become global firms.
“We have worked very hard over the years to build a strong portfolio community fostering collaboration between start-ups, traditional real estate companies, and our investment partners, which we believe is key to creating global scale for the companies we invest in.”
GPE investment director Robin Matthews said that it had invested in the fund as it understood the “profound impact and variety of benefits technology can bring to the real estate industry”.
Dr Manuel Käsbauer, chief technology and innovation officer at Patrizia, added: ”Our investment into the Pi Labs Fund 3 closely aligns with our endeavours to further strengthen PATRIZIA’s global innovation ecosystem and identify new solutions, which will help further improve the services we provide to our clients.”
Fund 3 is projected to invest into 50 proptech companies over five years, almost doubling Pi Labs’ portfolio to 100. Investment from the fund will range from £250,000-£1m per deal, plus follow-on capital.
Pi Labs is looking to induct a further eight professional investors into the fund, targeting institutional investors from across the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.
Pi Labs said it would also announce a batch of new investments through its accelerator programme this quarter. It expects to make 10 new investments in 2020.
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