Fifth Wall (firm)

Fifth Wall is a venture capital firm founded in 2016.[1][2][3] It manages the largest fund specialized in real estate technology [4][5] The firm's name refers to a fifth wall of technology it provides in addition to the four physical walls of a building.[6] It is part of an emerging category of "PropTech" investors.[4]Major financial backers include large real estate industry companies that agree to be matched with the products and services of the firm's portfolio of start-up companies.[7] The firm has a separate fund for investments in emerging retail brands, and works in sustainability venture funds to help real-estate companies reduce carbon emissions from their buildings.[8]

Fifth Wall
TypeLimited Partnership
IndustryVenture Capital
Founded2016
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Key people
Brad Greiwe, Brendan Wallace
Websitefifthwall.com

History

The firm was founded by Brad Greiwe and Brendan Wallace, both with backgrounds in the real estate industry.[8] Greiwe co-founded single-family home rental company Invitation Homes, which went public in 2017 with a $6.7 billion valuation and received much mainstream attention for its controversial business practices.[9][10] Wallace started his career as a real estate analyst at Goldman Sachs and worked for The Blackstone Group's real estate division. He founded Identified, a workforce optimization data and analytics company which was acquired by Workday in 2014. Wallace also co-founded Cabify, a ridesharing service in Latin America.[11]

Fifth Wall was formed in 2016 and announced the close of its $212 million real estate technology fund (Fund I) in May 2017.[12][13] Wallace said that the firm identified real estate technology as an underserved investment niche because while real estate represents about 13% of the U.S. economy, the industry has traditionally used very little technology and was therefore open to disruption.[14]

In July 2019, the firm announced the close of its second real estate technology fund, or Fund II, which closed at $503 million. While Fund I was raised from nine strategic real estate investors in the US only; Fund II consists of a global investor base from over 50 strategic real estate investors from 11 countries.

In 2020, the firm announced its Retail Fund of $100 million to back emerging retail concepts and their brick-and-mortar growth. As of February 2020, it manages over $1.1 billion in assets.[15][16] The firm announced that it would raise $200 million for its "Carbon Impact Fund," a sustainability venture fund investing in technologies focused on energy efficiency, water reuse, decarbonization, climate resilience and risk management.[17] The intent is to help real-estate companies meet growing pressure to reduce carbon emissions from their buildings. Fifth Wall stated that the fund will be a It became a certified B Corporation later that year, a certification awarded by the independent nonprofit B Lab to companies based on verified environmental and social performance.[18]

Investments

Fifth Wall's portfolio companies include Blend, ClassPass, Clutter, Hippo, Homebound, Industrious, Lime, Opendoor, States Title, SmartRent and VTS.[19] The firm has also invested in Allbirds, Carbon38, Cotopaxi, Foxtrot, Heyday, Interior Define, Madison Reed, Taft and Untuckit.[20]

References
  1. Sharf, Samantha. "New $212M Venture Fund Goes All In On Real Estate--Can An Innovative Model Force Change In A Dusty Industry?". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  2. "The nation's biggest real estate companies are trusting two men in Venice to find them the next Airbnb or WeWork". Los Angeles Times. 28 April 2017. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  3. Lee, Georgina (2018-08-27). "US proptech fund Fifth Wall attracts Hong Kong, Asian interest". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  4. Putzier, Conrad (2018-08-01). "Who's holding the purse strings?". The Real Deal New York. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  5. Marinova, Polina (2018-07-25). "Why VC Firm Fifth Wall Ventures Is Bullish on the Tokenization of Real Estate". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  6. "Fifth Wall Ventures raises $212 million fund to invest in real estate | VentureBeat". venturebeat.com. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  7. "Fifth Wall raising another $200M for retail tech startups". The Real Deal New York. 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
  8. Zakrzewski, Cat (2018-08-28). "'Retail Real Estate Isn't Dying,'\' Says Fifth Wall Ventures". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  9. Loizos, Connie. "A new venture firm focused on real estate has raised $212 million from real estate industry giants". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  10. Conlin, Michelle. "Spiders, sewage, fees – the other side of renting from Wall Street". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  11. "VC firm Fifth Wall raises $212M real estate tech fund from CBRE, EQR, others". The Real Deal New York. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  12. "Fifth Wall Ventures Raises $20M, Led by Identified's Founder". Wall Street Journal. 2016-09-30. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  13. "Fifth Wall Ventures raises $212 million fund to invest in real estate". VentureBeat. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  14. Morris, Meghan (2018-09-11). "Fifth Wall: Meet the venture capitalists funding the future of real estate | PERE". PERE. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  15. "US venture firm Fifth Wall's US$500 million green fund eyes start-ups with sustainable solutions for real estate sector". South China Morning Post. February 10, 2020.
  16. "This 31-Year-Old Venture Capitalist Has Bet $12 Million On Real Estate And Diversity". Forbes. July 30, 2020.
  17. "Fifth Wall Ventures Preps Real Estate Sustainability Fund". The Wall Street Journal. January 14, 2020.
  18. "It's No Longer A Viable Option For Capitalism To Ignore Carbon Impact".
  19. "Fifth Wall raises $503 million from property owners seeking tech edge". Reuters. July 17, 2019.
  20. "As Digital Brands Realize They Need Stores, Fifth Wall Ventures Sees An Opportunity". Forbes. February 26, 2020.
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