News ReleasesCommerz Real joins venture capital funds for real estate start-ups for the first time

Commerz Real invested five million euros in the “PT 1 Early-Stage Fund II” venture capital fund of the Proptech 1 Ventures platform. Other investors in the current financing round include US-based Proptech investor JLL Spark Global Ventures, project developer Evoreal, construction company Otto Wulff and the Scout-24 Group. The fund aims to reach a volume of around 100 million euros and invest primarily in technology start-ups in the real estate sector, so-called proptechs, across Europe. The focus is on major market trends such as the sustainable transformation of the real estate industry and its interaction with energy and infrastructure issues as well as the topic of climate resilience. Proptech 1 Ventures is an independent European venture capital fund initiator founded in 2018 and headquartered in Berlin. The first Proptech 1 venture capital fund was closed at the end of 2021 with a volume of EUR 50 million.

In addition, the investment enables a possible later direct entry into the portfolio with Proptechs. Steffen Wagner, Head of Business Model Innovation: "This is a win-win situation: Start-ups and funds get a strategic partner and a potential exit route, and we as Commerz Real can take a closer look at the companies through the longer cooperation and then make the right strategic decisions much better. Participation in “PT 1 Early-Stage Fund II” takes place as part of a new investment strategy for Commerz Real’s digital business models. Since 2019, investments in start-ups have mainly been made directly in very early phases. In future, such early-phase exposures will be made via specialised funds and thus indirectly. The target companies of the “PT 1 Early-Stage Fund II” should be in the so-called seed phase or in the series A phase. In the first, there is a founding team and usually a first product. In the Series A phase, a product already works on the market and the financing flows into the further growth of the business model. In the future, Commerz Real would like to make its own direct investments in mature and established companies.