Navitas Capital Closes Its Third Early-Stage Proptech Fund to Drive Innovation in the Built World

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Navitas Capital, a premier early-stage venture capital firm at the forefront of transformative real estate and construction technologies, today announced the closing of its third fund with $160 million – 60% above initial commitment target.

Founded in 2009, Navitas provides foundational capital, domain expertise and market access to world-class founding teams through a unique and highly aligned approach. Its third fund again seeks to take significant ownership stakes and build a concentrated portfolio of proptech investments across the real estate and construction sectors in Seed to Series B rounds, working closely with both founders and its limited partners (LPs).

Navitas possesses a long track record of successfully identifying and investing early in category-defining proptech startups, including Matterport, PlanGrid, Procore, View Glass, HqO, Orchard, Bowery, Cherre, OpenSpace and Lessen. Since its 2009 founding, Navitas has invested in portfolio companies with a current market value of over $20 billion.

RJ Pittman, Matterport's CEO, cites Navitas as integral in Matterport's journey from Seed to SPAC IPO. "As one of Matterport's earliest investors, Navitas played a critical role in supporting Matterport's growth from the very early stages, all the way through our public offering," he said. "Having an investor with Navitas' industry knowledge and network has been invaluable."

Navitas is particularly excited by today's environment and its ability to capture value as digitization and industry adoption accelerate across the built environment. Managing Partner Travis Putnam explains, "It's clear that real estate as an industry is being reshaped and redefined, whether it's automating work with AI, interpreting and processing visual information, decarbonizing the built environment, addressing housing affordability, connecting disparate systems to create new and seamless experiences, the merging worlds of fintech and proptech, or any of the many other themes we're investing behind."

Navitas is well positioned to catalyze this shift. Headed by Putnam and Managing Partner Louis Schotsky, Navitas possesses deep operational expertise in real estate and construction. It is widely known for providing trusted market insight to its founders and its LPs, who often co-invest alongside the firm.  "Our relationships with our founders and real estate executives are our most valuable asset.  They partner with us not only because of our track record as a VC, but also because they know we can help empower their businesses at the intersection of technology and real estate," said Schotsky.

Fund III is anchored by returning LPs and industry heavyweights such as AvalonBay Communities; BentallGreenOak; Equity Residential; Essent; First American; Greystar; JBG Smith; JLL Spark Global Ventures; Public Storage; PulteGroup; Realdania; Saint-Gobain and others spanning the real estate industry, in addition to investment managers, insurance companies, private equity firms and family offices.

Tim Naughton, CEO of AvalonBay, said, "It's important for AvalonBay to understand how we best can integrate and leverage technology to increase efficiencies, enhance the customer experience and deliver value to our shareholders. Our close working relationship with Navitas and their portfolio companies is a critical part of our effort to achieve these objectives."

"Navitas has been a valued partner of Equity Residential for many years as we enhance our operating platform to both create efficiencies and best serve our customer," said Mark J. Parrell, Equity Residential's President and CEO. 

Navitas has made initial investments in its third fund, including high-growth startups such as MeetElise, the leading conversational AI focused on the sector; Lessen, a vendor management platform for rentals; OpenSpace, a computer vision construction software company; and Sundae, a marketplace focused on distressed single-family homes. Navitas' portfolio has seen dramatic revenue growth through the pandemic as the demand for digital solutions has accelerated.

Jay McKee, founder and CEO of Lessen, considers Navitas' understanding of his business and customer pain points as a huge asset. "At the Seed stage, I love getting an investor like Navitas in my corner," he said. "The team already understood the problem we are solving. On top of that, Navitas' market access and customer relationships are invaluable." 

Navitas anticipates investment themes in Fund III will continue to leverage the confluence of digital technologies like computer vision, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud-computing and mobile that are shaping the future of the built environment. Navitas believes the next wave of emerging startups will provide even greater opportunities to come.   

About Navitas Capital
Navitas is a venture capital firm focused on transformative real estate technology and innovation. Established in 2009, Navitas provides foundational venture capital, industry expertise and market access to its portfolio companies. Real estate owners, operators and developers themselves, the Navitas team evaluates and deploys technology solutions across their own cross-sector portfolio as well as Navitas' network of limited partners, which include publicly traded REITs, real estate private equity firms and investment managers, Fortune 500 companies, homebuilders, endowments, and family offices. Please visit us at www.navitascap.com or follow us on LinkedIn for more information.

SOURCE Navitas Capital

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