Era Ventures Closes $88M Inaugural Fund
It’s the largest first-time raise by a female-led proptech-focused venture capital firm
By Philip Russo September 18, 2024 11:01 am
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Proptech-focused venture capital firm Era Ventures announced Wednesday that it has secured $88 million for its inaugural investment fund. The raise is the largest by a real estate technology VC firm led by a woman.
Clelia Warburg Peters, a proptech industry veteran, founded Manhattan-based Era Ventures in 2022 and remains its managing partner.
The firm garnered support from a number of leading institutional investors, including one of the country’s top Ivy League endowments, although Era declined to say which one. Era also secured backing from ICG Advisors, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, The Ashforth Company, BGO, Continental General Insurance Company, Pelwood Holdings, First America Financial Corporation, Bain Capital Ventures and Fenwick & West.
Era Ventures plans to deploy the capital across multiple stages and myriad technologies, including ones meant to disrupt the proptech industry, according to a company statement. The firm has identified seven core business models driving change, including software as a service (SaaS) and artificial intelligence (AI), marketplaces and embedded fintech ventures leveraging new technologies to optimize physical assets. Era Ventures also supports hardtech, which the company defines as hardware or complex technology that has a long lead time on development.
To date, the firm has invested in 10 companies. Its current portfolio includes Honey Homes, a digital handyman subscription service provider; Latii, a cross-border marketplace for construction materials; Welcome Homes, an online platform to manage and build custom homes; Ostrich, a real estate listing service in the U.K.; Shepherd, an embedded insurance platform designed for the construction industry; Truehold, a single-family rental company that combines home sales and rental leases; Homeward, an embedded financial platform for residential real estate transactions; PassiveLogic, an AI-enabled platform for autonomous buildings; Viabot, a robotics-as-a-service facility management platform; and Indigo, an AI-powered platform to facilitate residential real estate transactions.
Peters has been a leading investor in proptech since its early days, first as a co-founder of MetaProp, one of the original strategically backed real estate tech funds, and then as a venture partner at Bain Capital Ventures, a leading generalist venture firm.
“I founded Era Ventures to move beyond simply funding incremental improvements to the existing real estate industry,” Peters said in an email. “We’re trying to catalyze a fundamental reimagining of the built world. Our vision extends far beyond SaaS, and includes embracing diverse business models from hardtech and robotics, to embedded fintech and AI-driven platforms. We’re backing founders who are creating a new future for our physical world.”
Big change in real estate technology is also the focus of one of Era Ventures’ latest investors.
“We are proud to have invested in and to support Era Ventures in its mission to drive transformational change in the real estate sector,” Jeff Assaf, chief investment officer at ICG Advisors, one of the country’s bigger investment managers, said in a statement. “We’ve seen specialist venture funds consistently outperform in similarly complex sectors like financial services and health care, and Era’s approach positions it to drive fundamental disruption in a massive, yet technologically lagging, industry.”
One proptech startup founder in whom Era Ventures has already invested, Justin Levine, the CEO of Shepherd, hailed the VC firm’s assistance with his company’s growth.
“We’ve had the pleasure of working closely with the Era team since the early days of their first fund,” said Levine. “In our view, there isn’t another platform with their level of knowledge, experience and expertise in real estate and construction technology. They are true partners to our business, and I recommend them strongly to any early-stage startup operating at the intersection of the built world and technology.”
Major real estate industry disruption is the prime theme at the venture capital firm.
“Era is not about playing it safe — we’re not just looking to digitize old processes in real estate and construction,” Raja Ghawi, partner at Era Ventures, said in a statement. “As innovation in our built world enters a new generation, we believe founders and startups will learn from their predecessors’ mistakes, bringing more transformational, efficient and profitable businesses to market.”
Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.
