Highlights + Takeaways from Alpaca’s First 30/30 PropCo Summit

Daniel Fetner

October 3, 2023

When we set out at the beginning of the year to host the industry’s first summit connecting PropCo founders and operators with forward-thinking, technology driven real asset allocators, we knew we were in for quite an adventure. But we couldn’t have predicted how the journey ahead would turn out. From the beginning, we had a big vision. We wanted to do something different and unique: an event that allowed a select group of stakeholders shaping the future of the built world to gather together and enjoy nature, the great outdoors and connect at a critical time in the evolution of the PropCo ecosystem. In the end, the event also celebrated the debut of Alpaca Real Estate, helmed by founding partners Dan Carr and Peter Weiss.

We’re proud to report that Alpaca’s inaugural 30/30 PropCo Summit far exceeded our expectations. We found the perfect venue in Getaway Eastern Catskills (a portfolio company) and worked with event partner, Mint Collective, and a roster of top tier sponsors that helped make the event a reality. From the activities and entertainment to the connections made across the Summit, feedback in the days since has been overwhelmingly positive. Thank you to all who made the Summit a success.

The Goals

Throughout the event, we continued to emphasize three goals for everyone there — goals that were crucial to creating the unique experience we wanted to deliver:

• Have fun
• Meet new people
• Widen your perspective

On the first one, fun is truly core to the way we do business. Along with that, the event brought a highly-curated group of people together. It was important to us that attendees engaged with one other to create new connections and share insights on how to scale their respective companies and investment platforms. Last but not least, we wanted people to come away with a critical understanding of the potential synergies at play in today’s PropCo/OpCo structures and how innovative operating platforms can allow investors to differentiate their traditional real estate investment strategies and potentially generate alpha.

Highlights & Takeaways

We believe we are at a unique time in the capital markets: allocators have extremely high bars right now; however, allocators are also constantly looking for ways to differentiate their real estate investment strategies and generate returns for their investors.

Against this backdrop, there was a consensus that we’re sitting on two inflection points right now:

First, the majority of the demand for PropCo capital historically has been absorbed by high net worth individuals, family offices and esoteric hedge funds. More recently, we’ve witnessed a shift in this standard: more and more institutional investors are rolling up their sleeves, doing the work on these deals, and, in many cases, allocating meaningful capital to PropCo strategies. We think it’s safe to say that current interest from institutional investors was validated by who was at our Summit. Looking ahead, we think the percentage of PropCo deals funded by institutional investors will only continue to increase. We are proud that events like this one are helping to bridge the gap and connect traditional real asset allocators and founders.

Second, we’re seeing innovative PropTech solutions mature to the point where they can drive real ROI and accretion to a traditional real estate investor’s bottom line. At Alpaca, we refer to these solutions as “PropTech overlays.” From our vantage point, these overlays have the potential to create real alpha generation possibilities. We call this phenomenon technology-powered real estate. It’s the focus of the new Alpaca Real Estate platform launched just days before the Summit.

The People

From the outset, we purposefully limited the event to exactly 30 companies and 30 allocators (hence the 30/30 name). It’s no exaggeration to say the Summit truly drew an all-star roster of attendees. If you’re curious, you can view the complete list of who joined us in our Attendee Profile Book.

On the company side, in addition to the traditional venture capital that these businesses have collectively raised, the companies at the Summit also account for multiple billions of dollars of traditional real estate (“PropCo”) capital as well. As we see it, these PropCo structures are a critical reason that many of these companies have been able to scale. They ranged from Seed stage to pre-IPO. While most in attendance already have OpCo/PropCo structures in place, there were a few just beginning to raise their first PropCo strategies.

These companies represented a diverse array of sub-asset classes and product types including:

• Multi-Family
• Single Family
• Single Family Rental
• Build-to-Rent
• Industrial EV Infrastructure
• Industrial Co-Warehousing
• Hospitality
• Rural Hospitality
• Ghost Kitchens
• Retail
• Farm Land
• Parking Lots

On the allocator side, we welcomed some of the largest real asset investment firms globally, as well as some of the most forward-thinking and tech-driven investors in our industry.

What’s Next

Following the Summit and the official launch of Alpaca Real Estate (read the official announcement and press release), we see a bright future ahead.

We want to thank attendees, sponsors and partners for taking part in the inaugural 30/30 Summit and celebrating a major milestone moment with us. You are among the very first people to hear about the launch of Alpaca Real Estate (ARE) and our vision for the future. We appreciate your support as we enter this new chapter.

Read more background and press coverage from the Alpaca Real Estate launch below:

PERE Exclusive, “Alpaca launches Real Estate Investment Arm” (9/28/23)

Citybiz, “Alpaca Launches Private Equity Real Estate Platform” (9/29/23)

Connect CRE, “GCM Grosvenor anchors new RE Private Equity Platform” (9/29/23)

Investing Review.org, “Ares & Prospect Ridge Alum Launch new RE PE Platform” (9/29/23)

Yahoo Finance, “Alpaca Launches Private Equity Real Estate Platform” (9/29/23)

Credits & Thank Yous

We could not have created this experience without the participation and support from all involved, including:

Sponsors

Thank you to 30/30 PropCo sponsors Cooley, Allen & Overy, Keyframe Capital, Xeal, Maybern, Built Technologies, House Canary, Obie Insurance, Intelas, Trinet, Proptech Bankers, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, JLL Capital Markets, GCM Grosvenor, CRETI, CRETech, Getaway, Blueprint and Liquid Death.

Attendees

View all attendees in the Attendee Profile Book.

Event partners

• Event Producers: Mint Collective
• Venue: Getaway
• Photography: Michaela Rabinov
• Culinary: Chef Shon Foster
• Lighting: Ramar Event Pros
• Decor: Bare Bones Living
• Rentals: Events Unlimited Party Rentals
• Music: Mojave Grey and Haasy

To everyone who attended, thank you for trusting our team and taking a risk on a new experience — one we look forward to building on in the future.

Subscribe to our newsletter for tech updates, events, open roles, and portfolio news. Follow Alpaca on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

Disclaimer:

Alpaca VC Investment Management LLC (“Alpaca”) is a registered investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Alpaca Real Estate Management LLC is a relying adviser of Alpaca. Alpaca solely advises private funds and such fund interests have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or under any applicable state or foreign securities laws, nor have such interests been approved or disapproved by the SEC or the securities regulatory authority of any state or foreign jurisdiction. Statements contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of interest to purchase any securities or investment advisory services in any state or in any other jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized.