Why Asia, why now?

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‍Wondering what’s on the horizon in Asia-Pacific? We’re curious too. Voon shared her thoughts on why getting into Asia now is perfect timing.

‍What would surprise our readers about the proptech ecosystem in Asia-Pacific? What about climate tech?
‍I’d say both proptech and climate tech are actually in a fairly nascent stage.

‍Tell us more about why that is.
‍Asia is very different from the U.S. or Europe in that we’re coming out of COVID at a different pace. Different countries, different regulations, different shape of recovery and outlook. Many emerging proptech and climate tech companies had to evolve their business models to adopt the changing trends, or start fresh. In the last couple of years, a lot of companies focused inwards and focused on existing markets. But now, they’re in the position to think more about global expansion or regional expansion. That’s why it’s a truly exciting time for us to be looking at Asia today.

There are a lot of growth opportunities out here. We are in a situation now where value expectations are normalized and the growth outlook is a bit more sensible. We are looking to identify and back the emerging leaders in the space, replicating the success that we’ve had in the U.S. and Europe.

‍What’s an example of how Asia differs?
‍Take a look at office space and people who are working from home. It wasn’t clear whether people would come back. In the U.S., we’ve seen that it’s actually started to have an impact on the vacancies. But in certain markets in Asia, there’s no impact on vacancy. People are back in full flocks. I think it’s quite interesting to see how consumer behavior will play out.

‍Why is it exciting to be opening an office in Asia-Pacific right now?
‍Now is exciting, as opposed to two, three years ago, because of so much opportunity. In hindsight, it’s better that we’re opening an office now because it gives us the chance to reevaluate some of these companies that were previously on our radar. A lot of them would have had to pivot and change their business models in light of the pandemic. So, it’s perfect timing to be looking again.

‍What are you most interested in working on at Fifth Wall?
‍Over the years we’ve seen more Asian LPs interested in proptech and climate tech. Now that the Fifth Wall is in Asia-Pacific, not only will I be able to deepen the relationship with corporates and LPs out here, but also expand the network of our strategics and capital partners.

I want to use my understanding of corporates here to see how we can improve proptech and climate tech adoption in what’s still a very traditionally run real estate sector. I’m also looking forward to seeing how we’ll help portfolio companies succeed at expanding in Asia. That’s one other part of the business development side I’m excited about. And of course, directly looking at investment opportunities — there are a lot of ideas and future leaders coming out from the region.

This whole idea of trying to decarbonize real estate — there’s a lot of impact climate tech can have and that’s something that really resonates with me. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.