The Alpaca Real Estate platform was launched today and Alpaca VC raised $78 million in commitments for its third fund.
Alpaca, founded by Ryan Freedman in 2013 and based in New York City, started investing in real estate-focused startups. The venture capital industry utilizes a research-driven approach and invests in the intersection of the physical and digital worlds.
In 2020, the company continued to invest in proptech and construction tech, but in 2020 it began expanding outside the industry. Today it also invests in commerce enablement, blockchain infrastructure, consumer technology, the future of work, fintech and the creator economy.
Alpaca's total capital commitments have been increased from $194 million to $194 million. Alpaca's focus on seed deals continues, with an average check size of $1 million to $2 million. similar to prior funds, Alpaca is expected to reach a portfolio of approximately 30 companies with Fund III and will deploy it over the next three to four years, said Aubrie Pagano, general partner at TechCrunch.
The last month has been a busy one for new venture announcements. Alpaca joins a range of firms, including Mercury Fund, Enza Capital, Mythos Ventures, P1 Ventures,Connect Ventures, Fuse, Blockchain Capital and Unconventional Ventures, in securing new capital commitments.
The Alpaca Real Estate platform, which will be a private equity real estate venture, is a reference to the firm's former existence as Corigin Ventures. ARE came about when one of its anchor limited partners wanted to leverage the firm's expertise in the industry to explore the area of the built world.
The firm also said that it has identified an opportunity to help businesses that need facilities, for example, for alternative home equity loans or to buy rural land or real estate titles.
Daniel Carr and Peter Weiss have joined Alpaca as partners, which Pagano said will be run independent of the venture capital fund. ARE is anchored by capital from GCM Grosvenor.
Since 2020, the firm has doubled its team, including the addition of Pagano and five others, launched the Built World Fund I in 2022 and expanded its Field Study program.
The Field Study team detects and conducts 90-day research sprints into investable areas of the market. What comes from those are market insights and targeted opportunities.
It enables Alpaca to move quickly when a good deal in that particular market does come its way, Pagano said.
Pagano said in a statement: "I am confident that this is the best way to end the corruption scandal in India, not only in India, but also in the world as a whole.