November 28, 2024

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Woomi Construction's headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul (Woomi Construction)

Korean construction company Woomi Construction said Monday it has signed a contract to invest in global asset management company Fifth Wall’s Real Estate Technology III for Early Stage Ventures Fund, also called Fund III, on March 31.

This decision comes as part of Woomi’s efforts to continue investing in property technology, or proptech, and expand its foothold in the global investment sphere.

Property technology refers to the application of information technology tools and the platform economy to the real estate industry.

Headquartered in the US, Fifth Wall is the largest venture capital firm focused on technology for the global real estate industry. Fund III, which was closed last December after raising a total of $866 million, is a fund targeting early-stage proptech companies located in North America.

Woomi is the first Korean company to invest in Fund III, and the company was invited to join Fifth Wall’s investor network due to its management philosophy and proptech investment portfolio, which includes Zigbang, a Korean residential real estate rent and sales platform, and Cupix, a site 3D-modeling and management platform for the architecture, engineering and construction industry in Korea and North America.

Woomi also expects this partnership to become a key communication channel and an opportunity to help promising domestic proptech startups venture into overseas markets.

“Our consistent investments in proptech have helped us establish a strategic relationship with Fifth Wall,” Woomi said. “We plan to work with various global firms to boost progress for our country’s proptech industry.”

Brendan Wallace, co-founder and managing partner of Fifth Wall, said, “Woomi’s investment in Fifth Wall’s Fund III underscores the significant opportunities to mirror North America and Europe’s robust proptech ecosystems in the Asia-Pacific region. We are thrilled to welcome their team into our network to enhance awareness as well as strategic collaboration locally.”

By Yu Ji-soo (jjsooyu123@heraldcorp.com)