附近上门

Just two years after it closed its first fund, has now raised $503 million for its second fund.

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The Los Angeles-based firm is focused on real estate technology, a sector that is growing via a variety of subsectors such as property tech, iBuying, and mortgage tech. Fifth Wall has invested in all of the above with portfolio companies such as (mortgage tech), (iBuying) and (property tech).

I caught up with , co-founder and managing partner of three-year-old Fifth Wall, to hear more about the firm鈥檚 new fund and how things went with its first fund.

Besides its real estate focus, Wallace believes one of the characteristics that makes his firm unique is its consortium model for raising capital. The majority of Fifth Wall鈥檚 LPs are large owners, operators and developers of real estate in the U.S. In the first $212 million fund, eight strategic LPs included U.S.-based companies representing various subsectors including brokerage, retail, industrial, hospitality, multifamily and office.

With this second fund, 50 strategic LPs from 11 countries, including some in Asia and Europe, put up money, according to Wallace. LPs include brokerage CBRE, office developer Hines and聽 homebuilder Lennar. (Separately, earlier this year, Fifth Wall for a $200 million retail-focused fund).

鈥淟arge corporations in the real estate industry are increasingly looking to invest in tech and VC,鈥� Wallace told 附近上门 News. 鈥淎s such, investment in real estate technology has accelerated dramatically in recent years.鈥�

Out of its first real estate-focused fund, Fifth Wall invested in 27 companies, deploying capital across the A, B and C stages. Wallace emphasized that while the majority of Fifth Wall鈥檚 investments are focused on the real estate industry, it鈥檚 also open to investing in technologies that can be strategic to it.

For example, Fifth Wall invested in a scooter company, , out of its first fund after observing that real estate owners 鈥渨ere looking to partner with mobility companies.鈥� The firm has since helped the startup partner with property owners to distribute its devices to consumer endpoints in a number of cities.

Fifth Wall is targeting about 25 companies out of its second fund with average entry investment check sizes of between $10 million and $25 million, Wallace said. As in the first fund, the firm will lead and co-lead deals as well as invest alongside other VC firms. (It paired with firms such as SoftBank, Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Foundation Capital in its first fund.)

鈥淲e鈥檝e been part of a lot of syndicates since much of our deal flow comes to us from generalist VCs who want access to our strategic partners and investors,鈥� Wallace told 附近上门 News. 鈥淭his fund will put our total assets under management at $1 billion.鈥�

One of the ways Fifth Wall measures its success lies in how much revenue it directly brings to companies in its portfolio.

鈥淎 year ago, we calculated that we鈥檇 brought $100 million in revenue to our companies,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淎nd I imagine it鈥檚 larger today.鈥� Of its 33 staff members, nine are focused on working exclusively with investors and portfolio companies, he added.

Looking ahead, Wallace identified particular areas of interest as smart building technology, construction technology (which we鈥檝e covered extensively) and real estate fintech. It鈥檚 also looking at the convergence of blockchain technology and real estate capital markets, and the last-mile delivery and logistics space, which it sees as having 鈥渉uge synergies鈥� with the real estate industry. For example, in June, Fifth Wall backed Brazilian unicorn , a shipping logistics platform, which raised $150 million a SoftBank-led Series E.

All this activity appears to signal an upward trajectory for the firm, at least in terms of its aim to become a real estate technology powerhouse.

Photo: Fifth Wall’s Brad Greiwe on the right, Brendan Wallace on the left. Photo courtesy of the company.