Toronto, Canada – Greensoil PropTech Ventures announced the launch of Greensoil PropTech Ventures Fund II LP, investing in technologies to make the real estate industry more profitable and sustainable.
The fund’s first closing, plus additional commitments, represents about half of its USD $100M target. The largest asset class on the planet, the real estate sector is undergoing systemic change as it goes digital, driving increased adoption of technologies to increase returns and mitigate risk.
The Fund’s mandate is to invest entirely in PropTech, utilizing the firm’s longstanding industry relationships, including many of its Limited Partners, to find and invest in technologies compelling to customers in the real estate sector. In many cases, prospective portfolio company solutions are piloted with one of Greensoil’s Limited Partners before the fund makes an investment.
“As leading industry experts, we have been profitably bringing innovation and sustainability to the built environment for decades,” said Alan Greenberg, Co-Founder and Chairman of Greensoil PropTech Ventures. “Our diverse experience as real estate owners, developers and venture investors gives us an advantage unmatched by generalist VC firms. This unique vantage point will allow us to lead the industry’s adoption of the next generation of technologies – what we call PropTech 2.0.”
The Fund’s first closing is anchored by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers. Joining PSP Investments are several new and returning investors from the real estate sector, including an affiliate of Starlight Investments, a North American multi-family and Canadian commercial real estate company with $20 billion of assets under management.
“The initial closing of Greensoil PropTech Ventures Fund II comes at a time of significant opportunity and adversity for the real estate industry and the global economy and the need for innovation has never been greater,” said Kristopher Wojtecki, Managing Director, Real Estate Investments, PSP Investments. “PSP’s partnership with Greensoil, and anchor investment in Fund II, reflects our confidence in their PropTech leadership and investment track record.”
“At Starlight, we have been growing our real estate portfolio rapidly and sustainably to become the largest owner of rental units in Canada,” said Daniel Drimmer, Founder and CEO of Starlight Investments. “We are excited to partner with Greensoil PropTech Ventures to source, finance and deploy solutions into our buildings. We believe our commitment to GSPV Fund II will help us extend our market leadership and generate high investment returns.”
“From its origins of largely hardware-focused technologies to reduce facility operating costs, PropTech is exploding into a myriad of technologies, leveraging the cloud, machine learning and SaaS business models to provide real estate-specific use cases,” said David Harris Kolada, Managing Partner of Greensoil PropTech Ventures and fund manager of GSPV II. “With our new fund, we will be financing opportunities resulting from the digital disruption of the entire real estate value chain.” Joining GSPV in 2019, David brings a 25-year track record of investing and leading software and industrial technology companies.
In 2015, Greensoil launched one of the world’s first venture capital funds focused entirely on real estate technology, now known as PropTech. That first fund raised $59 million. Since that time, PropTech has become one of the largest and fastest growing VC segments, with close to US $25 billion of venture capital financing going to PropTech companies in 2020.
Real estate companies with over $5 trillion under management globally have signed on to net zero carbon commitments by 2030 and 2050. To help achieve these carbon reduction goals, the Fund will invest in high growth technology companies with an accretive business case to property owners, and strong environmental returns for the planet.
Greensoil PropTech Ventures invests in high-performing PropTech companies that provide products, services, and technologies to make real estate more productive, efficient, and sustainable. GSPV invests in early to mid-stage venture capital opportunities in North America, Europe and Israel. With approximately US $100 million under management, GSPV is backed by real estate and institutional Limited Partners to finance the digitization of the built environment, the biggest asset class on the planet.
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) is one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers with $169.8 billion of net assets under management as of March 31, 2020. It manages a diversified global portfolio composed of investments in public financial markets, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources and credit investments. Established in 1999, PSP Investments manages net contributions to the pension funds of the federal Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force. Headquartered in Ottawa, PSP Investments has its principal business office in Montréal and offices in New York, London and Hong Kong.
Starlight Investments is a privately held Toronto-based, full service, multi-family and commercial real estate investment and asset management company driven by an experienced team comprised of over 300 professionals. The company currently manages $20.0 billion of direct real estate as well as real estate investment securities.
