Press release

Commerz Real with first-ever participation in a venture capital fund for real estate start-ups

• Stake of 5 million euros in “PT 1 Early-Stage Fund II” from Proptech 1
• Diversification and pan-European access to technology companies

Commerz Real has taken up a stake of five million euros in the venture capital fund “PT 1 Early-Stage Fund II” on the Proptech 1 Ventures platform. Other investors in the framework of a recent financing round include the USA-based proptech investor JLL Spark Global Ventures, the project developer Evoreal, the construction company Otto Wulff, and Scout 24 Group. The fund is to have a final volume of approx. 100 million euros and primarily invest throughout Europe in technology start-ups in the real estate industry, so-called proptechs. In this respect it is concentrating on major market trends such as the sustainable transformation of the real estate sector, its interplay with energy and infrastructure topics, as well as the issue of climate resilience. Proptech 1 Ventures is an independent European venture capital fund initiator founded in 2018 and domiciled in Berlin. The first Proptech 1 venture capital fund was closed in the first quarter of 2022 with a volume of 50 million euros. 

“We were won over firstly by diversified access to innovative technologies in the real estate industry, and secondly by the focus on sustainability. Both are important pillars in our corporate strategy.”

Henning Koch, Chief Executive Officer of Commerz Real

In addition, he says, at a later date the investment allows for a possible direct entry into proptechs in the portfolio. Steffen Wagner, Head of Business Model Innovation, states on this aspect: “This is a win-win situation: start-ups and the fund are gaining a strategic partner and a potential exit route, and we as Commerz Real can observe the companies in greater detail thanks to the long collaboration, thus allowing us to make strategic decisions that are extremely well-founded.”

The investment in “PT 1 Early-Stage Fund II” is taking place in the framework of a new participation strategy for digital business models at Commerz Real. Whereas since 2019 investment in start-ups has mainly taken place directly in very early phases, in the future such early phase participation is to take place through specialised funds, and indirectly therefore. It is intended that the target companies of the “PT 1 Early-Stage Fonds II” are in the so-called seed phase, in which a there is already a founding team and usually also a first product, or in the Series A phase, in which a product already functions on the market and the financing is used for further growth of the business model. In the future Commerz Real’s direct investments and participations will tend to be in mature and established companies.