Brad Greiwe (clockwise from top left), Brendan Wallace, G.M. Nicholas Vik and Jeremy Fox.
Brad Greiwe, Brendan Wallace, Jeremy Fox and G.M. Nicholas Vik
Co-founder and chairman; co-founder CEO and chief investment officer; co-president and CEO of Fifth Wall Securities; co-president and chief operating officer at Fifth Wall
The real estate industry is notoriously slow to adopt new technologies — as recently as 2019, a survey from accounting firm KPMG found that barely half of all real estate companies even had a digital strategy in place, period.
The world has changed much since then, especially as the pandemic altered our collective perception of how and where we can work, and as AI advances bubble up at an astonishing clip. Last year was a challenging year for capital markets, but lately there’s an air of excitement around technology — a feeling that it will become more blended with our daily lives, one that proptech-focused venture capital firm Fifth Wall is primed to take advantage of.
The past six months alone have fostered strong momentum for the firm, which already has approximately $3 billion of commitments and capital under management despite its founding less than 10 years ago. Along with the launch of its new Flagship Fund, December saw the seventh IPO from Fifth Wall’s portfolio via cloud-based software company ServiceTitan, which went public with a $9 billion market capitalization.
Less than a month later, ubiquitous real estate firm CBRE purchased coworking company Industrious — one of Fifth Wall’s first-ever portfolio companies — for $400 million. What’s more, the VC firm later that month announced the launch of its own advisory services arm, dubbed Fifth Wall Securities. Jeremy Fox, Fifth Wall’s co-president alongside G.M. Nicholas “Magnus” Vik, heads Fifth Wall Securities as CEO.
“We started as a pure play venture investor … and now we’re talking about Fifth Wall Securities, and we’re talking about real estate businesses,” said Brendan Wallace, who co-founded the firm with Brad Greiwe. “But I think, over time, all these things are going to blend together, and I would expect that Fifth Wall does too. Meaning, I think what’s in our future is that technology, real estate and capital markets are all poised to collide, and I think … we as a firm grow with that and expand with that.”
