Proptech Investment in 2023
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Fifth Wall, the largest venture capital firm in the proptech space, just closed an $866 million fund. Brendan Wallace, Fifth Wall’s managing partner, talks exclusively about what the company plans to invest in next year. Also, New York City once incentivized the conversion of offices into residential on a large scale. Should it do so again?
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— Tom Acitelli, Co-Deputy Editor
Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace On What’s Next After Closing $866M Proptech Fund
Last week, Fifth Wall, the largest venture capital firm in proptech, announced the closing of its $866 million Fund III, the biggest property startup investment fund ever. The closing brings Fifth Wall’s total capital raised over the last year to more than $1 billion. Shortly after the Fund III closing, PropTech Insider sat down with Brendan Wallace, co-founder and managing partner (along with Brad Greiwe) at Fifth Wall, to discuss how such a historically huge fund came to be, the firm’s new interest in early-stage proptech startup investing, and what looks hot in proptech in 2023.
Can NYC Incentivize Office-to-Residential Conversions Again?
Back in the early 1990s, New York City was buffeted by recessionary headwinds and an unprecedented level of office vacancy, so the city and state developed a tax break and zoning changes to encourage Downtown landlords to convert their empty office buildings to apartments. As the city faces similar levels of office vacancy now, plus a housing shortage and skyrocketing rent, the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) examined that tax break, known as 421g, and tried to consider whether officials should be crafting a new office-to-residential tax incentive program.
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