PGIM Real Estate has acquired an equity stake in property technology firm Taronga Venture and has also committed capital to the Asian venture capital platform’s fund.
Taronga, which is targetting to raise up to A$100m (€63.6m) for the RealTech Ventures fund, has already attracted investors, including Patrizia, CBRE, and Dexus. The RealTech Ventures fund targets companies active in proptech, construction technology, mobility, infrastructure, energy and sustainability, as well as data and internet of things.
The partnership with Taronga follows PGIM Real Estate’s investments in the US to MetaProp NYC’s MetaProp Ventures II and III. PGIM Real Estate intends to invest in a European proptech fund to round out its global strategy.
“Venture capital partners are critical to helping us scale our own innovation efforts and remain at the forefront of digital evolution,” said Sara Shank, managing director and global head of innovation at PGIM Real Estate.
Benett Theseira, PGIM Real Estate’s head of Asia Pacific, said: “In today’s market, employing technologies that can drive better investment performance and operational efficiencies is imperative to maintaining our competitive advantage.”
Jonathan Hannam, Taronga Ventures co-founder and managing partner, said: “Institutional capital is now demanding that investment managers are at the forefront of innovation and technology.“
Taronga’s investments include a number of technologies such as CarbonCure, which is backed by the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
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