PropTech’s Biggest Fund Manager Is Targeting Retail
Fifth Wall Ventures has raised $60M for a new PropTech fund and has a target of $200M for its new venture, which appears to be focused on retail.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the fund manager has raised $60M for the Fifth Wall Ventures Retail Fund, which has an equity target of $200M.
The $212M the Venice Beach-based company raised for its last fund, Fifth Wall Ventures, is comfortably the largest capital raising ever for a PropTech fund.
Fifth Wall has not commented on the strategy for the fund because it is still in fundraising mode, but the name is something of a clue. Late last year it made its second-ever investment in a retail-focused company, investing in U.K.-based pop-up retail platform Appear Here to help fund the firm’s U.S. expansion.
When it announced the investment it said part of the appeal was the fact that the online retail world is now making the move into brick-and-mortar.
"Twenty years after the global economy shifted tectonically toward Internet commerce, unexpected forces are moving the digital world back into the brick-and-mortar retail fold," it said in a statement. "Amazon is the most striking example of this trend, with its growing retail locations and blockbuster Whole Foods acquisition. And firms like Spotify, one of the most popular online streaming music services with no well-known physical products, and others such as Google, the BBC and Ogilvy, have started leveraging pop-ups for a variety of reasons."
The $60M raised came from two unnamed investors. Limited partners that have invested with Fifth Wall include real estate giants like Lennar, Prologis, Hines, CBRE and Macerich.
