Two months ago, we were telling you about the SEE expansion of a new European VC platform targeting the proptech and construction sectors. Today, PropTech1 Ventures (PT1) announced the oversubscription of its €50M fund. Basler Insurance joined as an investor, in addition to the existing investor base made of real estate companies and entrepreneurs across Austria, Norway, Germany, and Canada.
PT1 is targeting investments in early-stage startups from the European proptech sector, which are innovating and optimizing the way real estate operates.
In 2022, the platform hopes to expand its presence even further, including in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, as well as support its portfolio, before looking into the launching of other funds.
The VC platform unites thematically diverse investors, from real estate banks, to insurance players, global consultants, pension funds, real estate companies and entrepreneurs, Managing Partner Nikolas Samios says that combining such a variety of backgrounds and expertise, together with a focus on megatrends is part of PT1’s plan to create a pan-European VC platform to discover and nurture innovation in real estate.
“We are trying to build up the best research and understanding about how the Real Estate ecosystem changes over the next decades and then invest along these lines. Simplified, we see three megatrends at a global level:
1. The overarching trend of digitization that finally arrived in the RE-industry, also catalyzed by Covid;
2. More customer-centricity and flexibility (e.g. hybrid work from anywhere, short-term rental platforms etc.);
3. The ESG wave that enforces a transition for pretty much all RE companies (e.g. new ESG data and passports, serial net zero modernization, cradle-to-cradle construction etc.),” Nikolas Samios tells The Recursive.
PropTech1’s journey started in Germany in 2018, which is reflected in the company’s portfolio that includes numerous DACH investments. Lately, the fund is expanding its reach across the continent, including the UK, the Nordics, Benelux, and most recently Southeast Europe.
The partnership they announced in December with the Bulgarian fund 3p1, part of AG Capital, strengthens this expansion and brings expertise and local networks from Bulgaria to the platform while opening opportunities to support local startups.
