Navigating Venture Success: Insights on Returns and Strategic Funds

The Propcast

In the final episode of season 12 of The Propcast, Louisa is joined by Jeffrey Berman, General Partner at Camber Creek, where they discuss how to set yourself on a path for the potential to create venture return, Camber Creek’s investment thesis, portfolio, their approach to investment and JB’s predictions for 2024.

Jeffrey dives into the importance of a ‘less is more approach’ when it comes to investment, and how Camber Creek’s investment strategy is based around a ‘need to have’, rather than a ‘nice to have’ method, providing examples like Flex and Built whose products provide solutions to the challenges that tenants and landlords are facing in the US.

Tune in to this episode to hear more about what 2024 has in store for the real estate technology space, as well as what JB’s ‘walking out’ song would be if he were to headline Coachella…

Companies mentioned

Flex

Notarize

Bilt

Measurabl

Placemakr

Pet Screening

VTS

Curbio

Arcadia

Jones

Bowery

Shoutouts

Michael Beckerman

Casey Berman

Shragie Lichtenstein

YeTong Shao

Matt Ellis

Episode Highlights

We invest in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building companies that are changing how we interact with the built world – Jeffrey

The way we always thought about fund size was we looked backwards. Not forwards. – Jeffrey

We have this massive group of strategic limited partners, over 300 around the globe, whose reading points become the foundation layer of ‘these are the types of companies we need to look at’ – Jeffrey

Key Takeaways

How Camber Creek has created its investment theses from an initial investment hypothesis, and how they continue to utilise that to invest in the best companies within the real estate technology sphere.

The two main questions that sparked Camber Creek’s investment thesis idea

Camber Creek’s different funds, including its opportunity fund

Jeffrey shares with us a bit more about some of their fastest growing companies, like Flex and the mission behind it

The massive opportunity set for climate tech and carbon tech

About our guests

Jeffrey Berman

Jeffrey Berman is a General Partner at Camber Creek. Jeffrey participates in all aspects of Camber Creek’s operations and portfolio management and serves on the boards of numerous Camber Creek portfolio companies. He has more than two decades of executive management experience and deeply rooted relationships in the startup, real estate, and venture capital ecosystems. Prior to Camber Creek, he was a Principal at one of the Washington, DC area’s largest privately held real estate development and management companies. Jeffrey has also been an active early-stage investor, backing more than three dozen startups, including Jackpocket, Kindbody, and Rappi.

Camber Creek

Camber Creek is a venture capital firm providing strategic value and capital to operating technology companies focused on the real estate market. Camber Creek contributes in a direct and significant way to the success of its portfolio companies by leveraging the real estate expertise, operating experience and portfolio of assets of its partners, investors, and advisors. Our investment team has investing, operating, and technology experience and expertise across a range of real estate businesses, including construction, property management, development, and leasing. Our investors own, operate and manage billions of square feet of real estate in the U.S., giving us a unique competitive advantage as an investor and value-added partner in the real estate technology space. The firm has ~$1bln AUM.

About Our Host 

Louisa Dickins 

Louisa is the Co-Founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market-leading global built environment recruitment platform and search consultancy, specializing in finding the best strategic talent for the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA. 

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.