1Sharpe Ventures

What is 1Sharpe Ventures?

1Sharpe Ventures is an investment fund that identifies as a bridge between Wall Street and Silicon Valley, with a focus on propelling industries like real estate, construction, insurance, and financial services into the digital age. As part of the 1Sharpe Capital Platform, they manage over $2 billion AUM across three primary verticals: credit, housing, and venture investments.

With more than $10 billion invested in North America and Europe, and with a combined venture-backed company value of over $3 billion, 1Sharpe Ventures operates at a significant scale. Over the past decade, they have purchased and managed more than 20,000 housing units.

The firm invests primarily in PropTech, FinTech, Financial Services, and Real Estate sectors, offering to bridge the gap for 'The Forgotten 50%' of the GDP by levering advancements in AI and technology infrastructure to drive efficiencies, transform industries and establish new standards.

They believe that VCs have underinvested in these foundational sectors and now with technology gains, these sectors present a ripe opportunity for transformation. Their investment approach includes Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A funding stages, targeting amounts typically between $500,000 and $2,000,000, with a 'sweet spot' of around $1,000,000 per investment.

The firm's team is composed of leaders from diverse backgrounds in tech and traditional industries, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. Gregor Watson, for instance, has co-founded businesses such as Roofstock, Lessen, and Azibo before establishing 1Sharpe Ventures. The enterprise has co-founded platforms like Roofstock, a leading online marketplace for residential real estate investing, and Lessen, a repair and maintenance marketplace for the real estate industry.

1Sharpe Ventures has also invested in ventures such as Flock, which innovates in real estate asset and retirement solutions. Their goal is to create partnerships that blend fresh technological solutions with deep industry knowledge and distribution networks to create sustainable competitive advantages and reshape marketplaces.

What they say:

1Sharpe Ventures (1SV) is an early-stage venture fund backing founders reimagining FinTech, PropTech and the trillion-dollar built world industries: construction, real estate, hospitality, commerce, logistics, and climate.We invest in category-defining businesses transforming the picks and shovels of how we experience, transact, and own real estate. Our team has founded multiple billion-dollar venture-backed tech companies (like Roofstock, Lessen, Kiavi, Azibo) in addition to billion-dollar real estate portfolios. We saw a gap in scalable, strategic capital for proptech founders in the earliest stages, so we built a platform based off of our experience in the trenches.We are investing out of $90M fund in pre-seed, seed, and series A rounds – typical check size if $1-$2M and we can lead or follow.Our venture fund is connected to the broader 1Sharpe Capital, a $3Bn+ asset management firm investing in real estate and credit – which brings an in-house sandbox of real estate assets, access to capital markets, and a deep bench of real estate, lending, and operating expertise.

What we look for: We invest in Fintech, Real Estate Tech, Proptech,Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Supply Chain, Logistics, Climate, Commerce, and hospitality, Pre-Seed through Series A.

How we help: Our team has founded multiple billion-dollar venture-backed tech companies (like Roofstock, Lessen, Kiavi, Azibo) in addition to billion-dollar real estate portfolios. We saw a gap in scalable, strategic capital for proptech founders in the earliest stages, so we built a platform based off of our experience in the trenches.We provide strategic support on building marketplaces, raising debt capital, company structure, and real estate expertise.