The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) and Venture Catalysts, an integrated incubator and accelerator for startups, partnered to set up a $100 million proptech fund to invest in startups in the real estate sector.
As per an official release, the fund will invest in early to growth-stage startups that can help grow the real estate industry through technology, data analytics, blockchain, AI, and augmented reality.
The fund will also focus on startups catering to all the major segments of real estate, including residential, commercial, institutional (hotels, schools, hospitals), and industrial (warehouses, factories, etc.).
“With the rapid development in the proptech 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,” said Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI.
CREDAI will provide startups 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, among others. It will support portfolio startups with mentorship and work towards making the real estate sector digitalised.
Venture Catalysts is actively investing in the real estate industry with a portfolio of over a dozen startups, including OYO, Basic, Grexter, Sharenest, Home Capital, Rentomojo, etc.
Anuj Golecha, Co-founder, Venture Catalysts, said that proptech in India has been limited to residential marketplaces such as MagicBricks, NoBroker, 99Acres, and Housing.com, among others, but technology is catering to all the important aspects of real estate — right from searching for a residential property to helping technology plan large industrial spaces.
“We are witnessing a revolution as we marked a 15,400% increase in the number of startups as it rose from 471 in 2016 to 72,993 by June 2022. While there has been a remarkable rise in the number of startups, it is integral to support the growth of these innovators to help drive the growth of the sector and even the nation. Also, 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,” stated Boman Irani, President-Elect, CREDAI.
