JLL launches $100 mn venture fund for tech startups catering to realty

JLL Spark will focus on products that can help JLL investors and occupier clients, or can be used by JLL businesses to improve service delivery

JLL Spark, a division of JLL, has started JLL Spark Global Venture Fund, which plans to invest up to $100 million in companies focused on leveraging technology to improve real estate development, leasing and investing, among other areas. 

The fund will help connect entrepreneurs and their companies with JLL’s business lines and clients for insightful feedback and product distribution, said the company.

The new fund will focus on seed and Series A investments, as well as select later stage rounds. Typical investment size will range from a few hundred thousand to several million dollars. 

JLL Spark will focus on technology startups with products that can help JLL investors and occupier clients, or which can be used by JLL businesses to improve service delivery. The fund is also interested in companies that are inventing new technology-enabled business models in traditional JLL service areas or those that will help expand its services to new client segments.

JLL and Tech in Asia says proptech start-ups in Asia Pacific are outpacing their counterparts in Europe and the United States with 179 of them raising around $4.8 billion in funding between 2013 and mid-2017 –- over 60 per cent of the global total. It forecasts that funding for proptech start-ups in this region will reach $4.5 billion a year by 2020.

“Asia Pacific is home to the world’s leading smart cities, many of which are powered by tech-enabled real estate tools. JLL is committed to cultivating next-generation proptech start-ups and promoting Asia Pacific as a hub of technology innovation for real estate, and JLL Spark Global Venture Fund is an extension of that goal,” says Mihir Shah, Co-CEO at JLL Spark.

“The fund gives us the unparalleled opportunity to partner with local and global entrepreneurs who can utilise the resources of JLL’s business lines to rapidly grow their companies while creating value for JLL’s clients,” he added.