JLL Philippines Sees Significant Opportunities for PropTech Companies with US100 million JLL Spark Investment

JLL Spark, a division of real estate professional services and investment management firm JLL recently announced the creation of JLL Spark Global Venture Fund, which plans to invest up to US$100 million in companies focused on leveraging technology to improve everything from real estate development and management to leasing and investing, while enhancing the experience of those who occupy it.

"Asia Pacific is home to the world's leading smart cities, many of which are powered by tech-enabled real estate tools. JLL is committed to cultivating next-generation proptech start-ups and promoting Asia Pacific as a hub of technology innovation for real estate, and JLL Spark Global Venture Fund is an extension of that goal," says Mihir Shah, Co-CEO at JLL Spark.  He adds: "The fund gives us the unparalleled opportunity to partner with local and global entrepreneurs who can utilise the resources of JLL's business lines to rapidly grow their companies while creating value for JLL's clients."

For his part, Christian Ulbrich, JLL's Global CEO says: "Creating this US$100 million venture fund through JLL Spark allows us to continue to lead the real estate industry in bringing the best proptech ideas to reality. It complements and expands our substantial ongoing investments in innovative, cutting-edge digital solutions, which is a core part of our Beyond strategic vision and commitment to achieve ambitions for our clients". 

While JLL Spark will direct its efforts to technology startups with products that can help JLL investor and occupier clients, the fund is also interested in companies that are inventing new technology-enabled business models in traditional JLL service areas or those that will help expand its services to new client segments.

JLL Philippines' Head of Research and Consulting Janlo de los Reyes expressed optimism that the new fund will boost the viability of proptech start-ups in the country. He says: "JLL Spark provides us with the opportunity to transform the Philippine real estate landscape through the introduction of the latest technology and innovation developed by both Filipino and global proptech enterprises".

According to a recent report by JLL and Tech in Asia, proptech start-ups in Asia Pacific are outpacing their counterparts in Europe and the United States with 179 of them raising around US$4.8 billion in funding between 2013 and mid-2017 – over 60 per cent of the global total. It forecasts that funding for proptech start-ups in this region will reach US$4.5 billion a year by 2020.

To learn more about JLL Spark, please visit https://spark.jll.com