Gruhas Proptech, Anthill Ventures, and DLF Family Office launch the Program ‘Gruhas ASPIRE’ for Sustainable Proptech Startups

Gruhas Proptech today announced a call for applications for Gruhas ASPIRE: Accelerating Sustainable Proptech in Real Estate, a 6-month scaling program for early-stage Proptech startups, powered by Anthill Ventures and in partnership with the DLF Family Office.

The Gruhas ASPIRE scaling program follows closely on the heels of the announcement of the Gruhas Proptech $100m fund made last year, which is slated to go live in the first quarter of FY (Financial Year) 22-23.

The program will thus invest and scale companies in the following sub-sectors:

Construction Management, with a focus on technologies that enhance productivity and reduce inefficiencies and waste
Property & Asset Management, with a focus on cleanliness and sustainability in resource use
New Materials and Technologies, with a focus on emissions-free materials and technologies in construction, and
Investments and Financing, with a focus on democratizing and enabling access to property for all

The Gruhas ASPIRE program will make strategic investments in each startup, enable market access via India’s leading developers and property managers, and provide dedicated support in marketing, sales, product, team, and other business challenges. The program will ensure that cohort startups secure POCs (Proof of concepts) through a strong corporate network and raise capital via Anthill’s investor network as well as a demo day at the end of the program.

Applications for the program will close on May 30, post which the cohort startups will be announced. The program will commence in June this year and will end in November with a demo day allowing startups to pitch to investors for further fundraising.

Abhijeet Pai, Co-Founder, Gruhas Proptech said, “The Real Estate and infrastructure industry is poised for disruption given the positive outlook of demographic and governments towards housing, green energy, infrastructure, and sustainable living. At Gruhas we want to back thought leaders in the Proptech and sustainable domain that are looking to scale through innovation and out of box thinking. The infrastructure real estate industry is the world’s second largest industry however the Proptech disruptions have just begun globally and have received accelerated industry participation and acceptance due to the pandemic.”

Sailesh Sigatapu, Partner, Anthill Ventures said, “As we emerge in a post-COVID era, the Proptech sector is flooded with innovative technologies and investments, but it is important to supplement its growth with sustainability-focused initiatives. We are therefore happy to join hands with Gruhas and the DLF Family Office to launch this program. Gruhas ASPIRE is a significant expansion of Anthill’s commitment to support early-stage startups in sustainability and smart city technologies to scale with speed in India. We look forward to enabling scale for a new cohort of market-defining technologies in this space.”

Rahul Talwar, Director at DLF Family Office said, “Construction is the biggest industry in the world, it represents 13% of global GDP (Gross Domestic Product), but construction has only seen a productivity growth of 1% for the past two decades. To add to that, buildings and construction are responsible for 20.7% of global GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions. I am happy to collaborate with Gruhas and Anthill and together assist the next wave of innovators to help solve the biggest challenges in decarbonising our planet and moving towards a more sustainable future.”

The startups will be selected based on the following criteria:

Early stage i.e., seed or pre-series A start-ups
Focused on any of the following sub-sectors within Proptech including (1) Construction Management, (2) Property & Asset Management, (3) New Materials and Technologies, and (4) Investments and Financing
Market need for their product or solution

Proptech is at an inflection point; despite the slowdowns caused by the pandemic, investments in this sector reached a record $551M in 2020. While historically the sector has been fragmented and employed traditional business practices, it is undergoing a revitalization with an influx of technologies like blockchain, AR/VR, IOT (Internet of Things), artificial intelligence, and robotics. Additionally, the sector’s contribution to climate change is high, with ~40% of all emissions attributed to construction and property management. Attitudes are changing and decarbonizing the sector is critical, with clean construction materials and technologies and sustainable asset management being a focus for developers and property managers.