Two partners join Pi Labs Fund III

Moorfield Group and Elkstone Partners have become the latest limited partners to join Pi Labs’ third institutional fund, Fund III.

By participating in the fund – which announced a €23m first close last year and has already invested in 17 companies – the LPs will be able to trial, pilot and deploy the technology Pi Labs supports across their portfolios.

UK-based Moorfield was an early investor in emerging sectors, including student accommodation, build-to-rent and senior living. Based in Ireland, Elkstone has a portfolio of real estate investments across a range of sectors and has structured more than €2bn of real estate transactions in the US and Europe.

Pi Labs said the inclusion of Moorfield and Elkstone demonstrates the growing appetite for real estate technology among UK and international investors.

The announcement followed the addition of Embassy Group, one of India’s largest real estate conglomerates, as an LP, which will act as a gateway to Asia for Pi Labs. Other existing LPs include Great Portland Estates, Patrizia, Assura and Revcap.

Fund III’s LPs will be able to access Pi Labs’ ecosystem, including startups from across Europe, research and the ideas that come out of Pi Labs’ accelerator programme.

Faisal Butt, CEO and founder at Pi Labs, said: “These new commitments to Pi Labs [are] not only an endorsement of our market leading position but [are] also indicative of the wider industry’s prioritisation of proptech as it continues to become increasingly important across every facet of the real estate value chain.

“The adoption of proptech has been accelerated due to Covid; we’ve seen this first-hand with the broader deployment of technologies from our portfolio being trialled and rolled out across major institutional real estate assets globally.”

Charles Ferguson-Davie, CIO at Moorfield, said: “We have been at the forefront of the evolution of new sector trends in real estate and we are partnering with Pi Labs to help us identify technological innovation that will improve our investment and asset management capabilities.

“Technology is going to continue to disrupt the way we live and work and we want to ensure that we keep pace with the changing landscape. We are excited to be supporting Pi Labs in their search for the next generation of technology experts who will shape the future of the real estate industry.”

Alan Merriman, founder of Elkstone, added: “Access to the very best opportunities is key. At Elkstone we have been very deliberate in building up a very select portfolio of international venture fund investments that we look to leverage from a strategic and learnings perspective. it’s a good way to source deals to co-invest in. Real estate is a space that we know and feel we should have an edge in, so we think there is a natural marriage by working with Pi Labs.”