Got a bright, untested idea or want to invest in one? Then sign up for Pi Labs, Europe’s first property-focused accelerator, which will furnish advice, capital and workspace out of a trendy east London office. Emily Wright talks to its fast-moving, well-connected founders
Four months. From concept to reality, it has taken just four months to launch one of the most innovative property ventures the UK real estate industry has seen. If proof was needed that the power of the tech set should not be underestimated, here it is. When the brightest and best in this sector put their heads together, things happen. And they happen fast.
The venture in question is Pi Labs, Europe’s first-ever property-focused accelerator, launched this week in Shoreditch, east London.
The programme has been created to support the growing number of disruptors trying to break into the property market by giving them access to investment, mentoring and business space. And there are no two people better placed to answer the myriad questions surrounding the venture than the duo who cooked up the idea in the first place.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Juliette Morgan and Spire Ventures’ Faisal Butt have driven the concept forward at warp speed since their chance meeting at a property tech party in Soho back in July.
And when it comes to getting something like Pi Labs off the ground, having two of the best-known names in tech innovation leading the way certainly helps. “Investment and property haven’t always understood each other when it comes to start-ups,” says Morgan, who is also head of property at Tech City. “We are going to change that. We are bringing together two tribes.”
Useful, too, that these two tribes are being represented to the hilt right from launch. Both the funding and real estate consultation power behind Pi Labs are coming from the most senior echelons of the property and investment worlds, thanks to the strategic partnership between Cushman & Wakefield and Dragons’ Den star James Caan’s investment company, Spire Ventures. And if that wasn’t enough, David Cameron’s former tech adviser, Rohan Silva, is providing the bricks and mortar by opening up a space for the Pi Labs team at his 20,000 sq ft Shoreditch-based office space concept, Second Home.
With the key players in place, Pi Labs is preparing to open its doors to the first intake of fresh young start-ups next January. So who will be eligible to apply for a spot at one of the coveted 24 desks? How will they receive investment? And who will be providing those all-important funds?
Seamless summer
First, some background on how Pi Labs came to be in a matter of weeks – a timeframe pretty alien to most people working in real estate. “It all started this summer,” says Morgan, who is planning to relocate, along with her C&W tech team, to the Pi Labs site later this month. “Faisal and I met just after I had sat down for lunch with Rohan [Silva], who had told me how much he wanted to disrupt the property space. There is a huge appetite within Cushman & Wakefield to work with property start-ups and entrepreneurs, so there was an alignment that started with Rohan and culminated in my meeting Faisal.”
Not least because Butt had separately come to the conclusion, from the investor side, that a facilitator to support property tech start-ups could be a lucrative business move. A West End investor, he had become increasingly intrigued by the activity in east London. “Over the course of a few months, I sat myself in an East End coffee shop, all day, every Friday,” he says. “At first it was just me, watching the world go by, observing. But after a few weeks, I had met so many people, so many start-ups, that eventually Friday became my busiest day every week. I was consistently back-to-back with meetings. And I realised I was on to something.
“All you need to do is look at the bubbling activity in this sector. There have been six-month phases over the past two years when new companies keep cropping up. The property industry is packed full of entrepreneurs ready to launch new ideas. That’s something that needs to be accelerated. I realised that and then met Juliette. We were both thinking the same thing and everything from that point on moved very quickly. It felt seamless.”
Opportunity for anyone
The way the accelerator will work is pretty simple. Pi Labs has access to 24 desks, which will be offered to five property start-ups at a time – although this number could increase in the future – for six-month periods. The first tranche of companies, which can apply for a space now via the Pi Labs website, will move into the space in January 2015. They will all be given the same initial funding, access to mentors and business support and access to investors – one of whom is Spire Ventures’ James Caan.
The fund will be raised by Pi Labs over the coming weeks and months and Butt and Morgan are keen to make clear that it will not be exclusive to their own companies. It will be open to the whole property industry. In short, it will be an opportunity for anyone to keep an eye on the young companies that go through the accelerator space, watching out for investment opportunities which, in turn, will be facilitated by scheduled meetings between interested parties or through demo days where the start-ups can pitch to potential investors.
Morgan and her tech team from Cushman & Wakefield will be on site, along with prop tech entrepreneur and Pi Labs programme director Umesh Kumar, to offer advice, mentoring and support. “I will be there full time, but there will be another desk for a different member of the C&W team to use every day,” says Morgan.
“So, each month, 20 people from the team will come in, from the retail guys to corporate investment, valuations to landlords. And this will be across all seniority levels, from graduates to partners and equity partners. The idea is that as many people from Cushman’s get direct access to the start-ups and vice versa, so the two begin to understand each other better.”
In terms of the types of start-ups Pi Labs will be looking to work with, a mixture of pure property, hospitality and prop tech is likely, says Butt. “We are not just interested in prop tech. There can be great innovation in bricks-and-mortar real estate firms. There doesn’t have to be a technology aspect to every young business we put through the programme.”
With just 24 desks available, Pi Labs is already expecting an influx of applications. Is an expansion on the cards if the first few intakes go to plan?
Both Morgan and Butt remain tight-lipped at this stage but would not rule out
a wider roll-out of the accelerator concept in the future, possibly overseas. The plan for now is to start, see if the idea works out, and then think about the future. But there is no denying that the reaction has been encouraging. “It has been absolutely sensational,” says Butt. “I think a lot of people are really relieved,” adds Morgan.
Bold back-up
“Prop tech has been crying out for something like this,” she continues. “Not just in the UK, but across Europe where, until now, there has been nothing like Pi Labs. People are just so relieved to see something happening, a place for them to go and a place where they will get a chance to launch with proper backing and support.”
And it’s not just the new blood that can benefit from the potential power of the programme. “There are people who work at blue-chip, property companies who have some really innovative ideas too,” says Butt. “Forward thinkers who want to try something new but don’t necessarily know how, or where to go. Pi Labs could be the catalyst for them to actually do something about it.
“Across the board, it’s a no-brainer,” he adds. “People just can’t believe nothing like this has been done before.”
So why hasn’t it? Morgan and Butt agree that their success stems from the partnership. They point out that it would be a struggle to set up something similar from a pure property or a pure investment position. One needs the other at all stages to support just one start-up, let alone tranches every six months.
“It’s pretty difficult on your own,” says Butt. “You need a partner. And we have definitely got this up and running more quickly by working together.”
It also helps that both parties are fully backed. “I have been profoundly impressed by the leadership team at Cushman & Wakefield,” says Morgan. “All the way up to Digby Flower in the UK, senior management across the world have been supportive and have absolutely backed Pi Labs from the very beginning. It hasn’t felt like a big sell.”
Start-up costs
As for the start-up costs for Cushman & Wakefield and Spire Ventures themselves, neither will be drawn on exact figures, Morgan does say: “Both sides have kept things pretty lean.”
Now, Team Pi Labs is raring to go. And with just three months until the first
start-ups move in, Morgan can barely contain herself. “I have found it so difficult to keep this quiet, even for four months,” she says. “It is so exciting and we have been ready to burst keeping it under our hats. I can’t wait to work with all those crazy people who want to transform the property industry.”
Personal information
Juliette Morgan
Morgan has spent 15 years in property, working for the tech sector. She has been involved in the management and development of millions of sq ft in the US and the UK. Since October 2011, she has advised the government on the property aspects of Tech City and the growth of tech clusters. She joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2014 and leads its London Tech initiative, focusing on emerging trends in tech and their application to the real estate industry.
Faisal Butt
Butt is an entrepreneur and investor based in Mayfair. He is chief executive of Spire Ventures, a property-focused venture capital firm he founded in 2010. He has invested in eight property-related ventures in eight sectors and is London’s most active property-focused venture capitalist investor. He has stakes in property investment management firm 90 North, digital resi agent emoov, and online office space marketplace Spacious.
