Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace On Why The Best Proptech Bets May Not Look Like Proptech

Brendan Wallace, co-founder of Fifth Wall, an investment firm specializing in real estate technology, believes that AI is transforming the way investors perceive and fund proptech companies. Fifth Wall, based in Los Angeles and with roughly $3 billion in commitments and capital under management, has a diverse portfolio that includes industry leaders such as Procore, OpenDoor, Blend, and Hippo. Notable exits from the firm include ServiceTitan and Industrious.

Wallace highlights that AI is making certain products easier to replicate, leading to a shift in the types of companies worth backing. He sees growing potential in startups that use technology to own and operate real estate themselves. This shift has resulted in increased investment in horizontal software solutions, such as Higgsfield, a visualization software company used by real estate agents and commercial leasing brokers for space representation.

Another growing category is full-stack businesses, such as Atoms, which invests in real estate companies directly or indirectly.

AI is playing a significant role in this shift, reducing the justification for purchasing third-party solutions. Startups are now developing bespoke AI solutions specifically tailored to the real estate industry, which are more defensible than simple application point solutions. Wallace emphasizes that a startup needs to offer something that cannot be easily replicated by large labs or in-house teams.

As AI continues to advance, the bar for what constitutes a venture-scale proptech software company is being reset, with domain expertise becoming increasingly important.