For the venture capitalists funding this new sector, proptech is a broad category, encompassing commercial and residential real estate, and tools that support data/investment as well as construction/operations — real estate technology comprises everything from software to sensors. If you consider the broader proptech sector as divided into four quadrants, then institutional investors in real estate are likely to be most interested in the quadrant that covers commercial real estate investment and data tools.

“The real estate industry is at the beginning of a major transformation, with significant advancements in technologies that are creating a better investment profile for institutional investors and operators,” says Matthew Shaffer, managing partner of Radical Galaxy Studio, a startup focused on augmented