Pi Labs’ latest built environment technology fund has attracted an investment from UAE-based VC, Dar Ventures. The fund is enhancing its exposure to startups at the cutting edge of innovation in real estate, construction, infrastructure, and related services.
Pi Labs’ fourth institutional fund, which is targeting a £100 million close, will invest in up to 50 pre-seed to Series A companies with the potential to scale globally at pace. The fund is focusing on the new wave of AI-native start-ups developing the most compelling technology solutions to challenges across the global built environment, such as making construction more sustainable and efficient, building healthier or more liveable cities, optimising architecture, engineering, construction and property management and reducing carbon footprints of commercial assets.
Pi Labs has identified several long-term secular trends shaping the future of the built world, including how next generation AI and robotics will transform logistics, data centres, residential development, city planning and construction material supply chains.
The VC acts as a gateway between real estate owners, operators, construction firms, and service providers and the technology start-ups transforming the sector.
Dar Ventures joins Pi Labs’ global LP network, which comprises blue-chip real estate investors and developers. The network includes Dutch pension fund APG, Abu Dhabi-based Aldar, UK and European institutions such as Patrizia, Assura, Revcap, Helical, and Sellar, and investors and developers from further afield, such as the Indian developer Embassy Group, Hong Kong developer Swire Properties, and Canada’s Hopewell Group.
Since launching in 2015, Pi Labs has amassed a $2 billion portfolio comprising almost 100 companies, making it the world’s most active early-stage property technology-focused VC. It has fully exited its first fund, which delivered a 10x gross return to investors and outperformed the top decile of VC funds between 2015 and 2023. The VC has delivered 17 company exits to date, having identified and backed firms such as LandTech and OfficeRnD at an early stage in their global growth journeys.
Faisal Butt, Managing Partner and Founder of Pi Labs, said: “Real estate is the world’s largest asset class and faces several challenges such as labour shortages, sustainability targets, resource scarcity and costly inefficient manual processes. The good news is that this new AI wave has created multiple AI-native startups for pretty much every industry pain point. The challenge will be identifying winners and backing them at an early stage to expand into global markets. With the support of this initial closing from Dar Ventures and Sidara, and our other LPs, we are confident that the next property technology unicorns will be found.”
Faysal Shair, Director and Co-Founder of Dar Ventures, said: “As leaders within the global AEC industry, Dar and Sidara have always been committed to driving innovation that empowers communities through more sustainable, more resilient, and more welcoming built environments. As such, Dar Ventures’ purpose is to support innovators who are confronting the world’s most critical challenges, and in doing so, shaping a more sustainable, resilient and digitally enabled built environment for everyone. By investing in Pi Labs’ latest fund, we can leverage our extensive AEC expertise and exposure to foster, guide, and empower the next wave of AI breakthroughs in the built world, in particular, the application of LLMs to each aspect of the real estate value chain. Through this strategic partnership with Pi Labs, we hope to continue tackling the sector’s biggest challenges, including decarbonisation and resource efficiency, in order to accelerate technologies that redefine how the built environment is designed, delivered and operated.”
