Global Founders Capital, the venture capital arm of Rocket Internet, is investing in London and Berlin-based online real estate fund management platform BrickVest.
BrickVest, cofounded by Emmanuel Lumineau, Dr. Thomas Schneider and Adalbert Wysocki, will give investors direct access to Pan-European and North American real estate investments via its online platform.
Investors on the platform will then benefit from the full spectrum of fund management services typically reserved for a closed network of real estate investment professionals.
The investment comes as fintech firms continue to attract venture capital with recent research from Accenture having found that global fintech venture investments stood at $12.2bn in 2014 ($1.48bn in Europe), tripling from $4.05bn in 2013.
Oliver Samwer, founder and CEO of Rocket Internet, said: “We’re always looking for strong teams which work well with us and grow a startup into a successful business – especially in a growing field like fintech.
“We were very impressed by the founding team and its extensive experience in real estate, investment services and technology. BrickVest not only merges of all of this experience, but it does so in a way that can cause a paradigm shift to how real-estate investment takes place across the globe.”
Emmanuel Lumineau, CEO of BrickVest, added: “We’re thrilled to have Global Founders Capital back our business proposition ahead of the launch and it is testament to our vision and strategy that they have decided to do so.
“Real estate investment services have been closed off to a majority of investors for too long and our platform can deliver these services to a wider audience. With the business growth experience of the Global Founders Capital team, we expect BrickVest to make a big impact in the market.”