US venture firm Fifth Wall’s US$500 million green fund eyes start-ups with sustainable solutions for real estate sector
- The Los Angeles-based venture capital manager is launching a new fund to help developers cut greenhouse gas emissions
- Its last proptech fund drew investments from China Vanke, Sino Group and Keppel Corp
Fifth Wall Ventures, which focuses on property technology, is looking to raise around US$500 million (HK$3.9 billion) for its first carbon impact fund to invest in start-ups working on clean tech solutions to help the sector reduce its carbon footprint.
Co-founder and managing partner Brendan Wallace said over the past one year he has seen a marked shift in Asian property developers and landlords adopting new technology that could reduce carbon emissions. The sector accounts for a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and consumes about 40 per cent of the world’s energy, according to United Nations Environment Programme.
“In Asia, a lot of the large, family-held real estate companies are going through succession as their founders pass the business onto the next generation,” said Wallace, who was in Singapore last week to meet potential investors. “This younger generation has heard a lot about carbon neutrality and thus holds a more altruistic view about building more sustainable, environmental friendly cities.”
The Los Angeles, California-based Fifth Wall last year closed a US$503 million proptech fund, which attracted investments from various countries including mainland developer China Vanke, Hong Kong-based Sino Group, Keppel Corp from Singapore and the city state’s investment firm Temasek.
Sino Group and Temasek did not respond to inquiries from the Post, while China Vanke was not immediately available for comment.