Casey Berman, Jeff Berman and Jake Fingert

COVID’s initial depression of deals and real estate activity had somewhat of the opposite impact on proptech, said Casey Berman, whose venture capital firm Camber Creek has been a leading investor in the sector for years. 

“COVID required technology,” Casey Berman said. “You had to present through technology.” 

That combination of COVID, mature technology and, finally, a more sophisticated customer base meant that the present — and investors — finally caught up with Camber Creek’s past of strategic investment in building technology. The firm’s bets have paid off, especially with Notarize, the digital notarization software, and Measurabl, which has been a leading emissions and energy measurement tool with even more relevance in the wake of ESG-focused investing and new building emissions regulations, including New York City’s Local Law 97. 

Big real estate players, including Camber Creek’s limited partners, have embraced the potential of proptech at a time when investors poured a record $32 billion into the space last year. For instance, Camber Creek saw upside when JLL spent $300 million last year to acquire Building Engines, one of Camber Creek’s investments. 

And with the firm’s mammoth $325 million Fund IV closing this past March, nearly triple its last fund, Camber Creek is poised to see significant returns via the ongoing digitization of transactions and the desire for more real estate data tied to things such as occupancy and air quality. 

“We’ve been at this the longest, investing in real estate technology,” Jake Fingert said, “and consistently executing on the strategy we laid out a decade ago. While there’s significant capital in the space, and splashy content about big valuations and large rounds, that’s not what we focus on.”