CREDAI, Venture Catalysts set up $100 million proptech fund to support startups in real estate

Real Estate

Realtors apex body CREDAI and Venture Catalysts have set up a USD 100 million (about Rs 800 crore) proptech fund for supporting startups that are seeking to bring technological disruption in the real estate sector.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) has more than 13,000 developers as members, while Venture Catalysts is an integrated incubator and accelerator for startups.

Both have "partnered to set up a USD 100 million PropTech fund to invest in startups bringing in innovative disruption in the real estate sector."

This fund will invest in early to growth stage startups that have the potential to transform the real estate industry through technology, data analytics, blockchain, AI and augmented reality.

The fund will invest in startups catering to all the major segments of real-estate including residential, commercial, institutional (hotels, schools, hospitals) and industrial (warehouses, factories etc).

"The large corpus will help deliver on the PM's vision of 'Make in India' and help strengthen the promise of the startup community as India continues to emerge as one of the startup hubs globally, said Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI.

This platform will support the 'Make in India' and 'Techade' initiative of the government working towards digitalization. Innovations and technological advancements are expected to help the real estate sector to become a USD 1 trillion industry by 2030, from an estimated USD 300 billion now, CREDAI said.

"With the rapid development in the Prop Tech domain, the use of AR/VR or AI to help homebuyers expedite the process of closing deals will help provide developers with better liquidity as the processes gradually become more efficient, resulting in enhanced asset returns, decreased friction, and increased transparency," Patodia said.

CREDAI will provide startups with access to its network base of 13,000+ members from 256 different industrial fields in real estate such as developers, vendors, channel partners, and promoters amongst others.

It will support portfolio startups with the right mentorship and work towards making the real estate sector more digitized. "With the advent of 5G, it is important to provide a platform for rising entrepreneurs to disrupt the industry and introduce innovative methods to overcome any challenges the industry currently faces, said Boman Irani, President-Elect, CREDAI.

Anuj Golecha, Cofounder, Venture Catalysts said real estate was one of the few sectors that witnessed adoption of technology even before the pandemic hit. "However, post COVID era, this adoption has further increased to boost sales and experience both and hence there is a need for a dedicated fund that would help propel growth in the sector," Golecha said.

Through this fund, he expects to back some very interesting and innovative startups in the coming months. The proptech segment has received massive support from the VC community.

Venture Catalysts has been actively investing in the real estate industry with a portfolio of over a dozen startups such as OYO, Basic, Grexter, Sharenest, Home Capital and Rentomojo amongst others.