Source: Place Tech
A €50m fund called PropTech Capital has been announced, to finance, identify and invest in technology companies that positively impact the property environment, either through business model or product innovation.
It is thought the fund is the first of its kind to invest in proptech on such a large scale.
The fund is the work of Luxembourg-based Odysseus Investments, the private equity arm of Reech Corporations Group, and Seed Founders, a technology investment company established by Insurtech investor Minh Q Tran. This is the latest in a series of investments by Odysseus as it seeks to build a Europe-wide portfolio of innovative businesses within the financial services sector.
PropTech Capital will take the form of a tax-effective Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership structure. The fund will source, secure and manage investments into early-stage technology ventures in Western Europe and across the Continent, supported by a team of investment management executives with deep sector expertise and venture capital experience.
Seed Founders is also establishing ProTech, a proptech accelerator and co-working hub which together with the fund will provide investee companies access to a fully-fledged property technology ecosystem, helping nurture these firms as they build scale.
Christophe Reech, chairman of Reech Corporations Group, said: “PropTech Capital offers a unique way of accessing this exciting new area of activity. What stands out about this fund is the way it marries Minh’s expertise in early-stage investing in fintech and Insurtech with our track record as serial entrepreneurs, and our experience and knowledge of both real estate and fintech. I am confident this will be a great success.”
Minh Q Tran, founder of Seed Founders, commented: “The property sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation, fuelled by technology. However an equity gap separates investors and real estate corporates, who need new technologies to futureproof their businesses, and the technology-savvy startups in early stages, who need venture capital funding to grow and accelerate product innovation with corporates. This is the challenge and the opportunity that PropTech Capital seeks to address.”