A Toronto venture capital firm has launched a $100 million proptech fund backed by one of Canada’s largest pension funds.
Greensoil Proptech Ventures — which previously invested in construction tech company Procore, and Dealpath, a deal management startup — said the Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s PSP Investments committed to its second proptech-focused fund. An affiliate of Starlight Investments, a multi-family and commercial real estate company with $20 billion in assets under management, also committed funding.
Greensoil Investments was founded by Alan Greenberg and Gideon Soesman. After investing in the electricity and agriculture industries, it launched a $59 million proptech fund in 2015. It’s since invested in companies like Honest Buildings, which Procore acquired in 2019; Electriq Power, a smart home battery backup power source; and others.
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In a statement, Greenberg said Greensoil’s experience as real estate owners and investors give it 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,” he said.
Over the past year, the pandemic accelerated adoption of tech used by the real estate and construction industries, which were forced to go digital amid worldwide lockdowns.
Other VC firms have launched funds to capitalize on that environment. Last summer, MetaProp launched a $200 million fund to invest in more mature startups. And in October, Fifth Wall, the VC firm that has backed Opendoor, Doma (formerly States Title) and Industrious, launched a $118 million European fund to invest in proptech startups. SoftBank is investing $100 million to fund Miami tech companies.