JLL Spark Debuts $100M Global Venture Fund
“Occupiers and investors of real estate are faced with all these emerging technologies and companies and often they don’t have the time or infrastructure to figure out which are the most promising.”
SAN FRANCISCO–JLL Spark, a division of JLL, has launched JLL Spark Global Venture Fund, through which it plans to invest up to $100 million in real estate technology startups.
The new fund will focus on seed and Series A investments and certain later stage rounds with the typical investment size ranging from a few hundred thousand to several million dollars.
Since JLL is the sole limited partner in the fund, it doesn’t have a specific time frame in which the money has to be invested.
JLL Spark launched last August with the goal of investing in real estate technology, Co-CEO Mihir Shah tells GlobeSt.com. JLL had been investing in real estate technology prior to that and Spark was meant to further that activity. “Part of the reason for starting this fund was that, in the last six to seven months, we’ve seen an acceleration of the number of promising tech startups that are entering this space,” Shah says.
The fund will focus on startups that are developing products that align with the needs of JLL’s investor and occupier clients, acting as a sort of filter for its clients. “Occupiers and investors of real estate are faced with all these emerging technologies and companies and often they don’t have the time or infrastructure to figure out which are the most promising,” Shah says. “What the fund will do is connect the two together.”
The fund will focus on real estate development and management, leasing, investing and the tenant experience. It’s not, for example, necessarily interested in construction tech.
The fund will also provide assistance to the companies in which it invests, Shah also says. It will provide product marketers and business development staff to help nurture the companies and roll out their products. It is also going to fast track the technology in its own building labs for feedback and to showcase the features. Other ideas Spark is contemplating is a mentorship program between the senior executives at JLL and the startup, Shah says. “As a strategic investor it is not just about the money but also how you effectively help the company grow,” he says.