Casey Berman (from left), Jake Fingert, and Jeffrey Berman.
Casey Berman, Jeffrey Berman and Jake Fingert
Founder and managing partner; general partner; and managing partner at Camber Creek
Many in the proptech space have said that while 2024 has been the year to regroup, 2025 will be the year when things start to happen.
Sorry to say it, but that sounds a little like lowballing the folks at Camber Creek.
Yes, like a lot of venture capital firms, there was certainly some retrenchment in the last year, but that’s not the whole story.
“I would say, on one hand, we as a firm have been very disciplined where we deployed capital,” said Jake Fingert, who leads the firm with cousins Casey Berman and Jeffrey Berman. “We’ve had two new deals to date: Cents and Ren. Ren is an AI [customer relationship management] tool for real estate. And Cents — the website is trycents — is a tech company to provide operators with laundry options.”
Very good — but that’s not all.
“We’ve had great news from our existing portfolio,” Fingert continued. “Three companies have had $1 billion-plus valuations.”
First up, Bilt, a kind of rewards credit card for paying rent, not only got former American Express Chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault for its board but also scored a $3.1 billion valuation, more than double its previous valuation of two years ago. Plus, the firm raised $200 million at the beginning of the year from General Catalyst and another $150 million this summer from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Second is Arcadia, which describes itself as a “utility data” and “community solar platform.” Arcadia has had a $1.5 billion valuation since 2022, and in April this year raised $50 million, led by an investment from Macquarie Group.
And the third one … well, Fingert is tight-lipped about it. For now. But he anticipates a lot of activity next year. “Climate tech and ESG we continue to be very bullish on,” said Fingert. “And AI is the elephant in the room. The number of AI companies we have seen in the last six months have grown tenfold. A lot are noise — we come in with a healthy amount of skepticism, and a lot won’t create value for CRE — but a few will, and create tremendous advantages.”
