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Green Concrete, Microgrids, Predictive Analytics – What VCs Are Betting on Now

Published on May 13, 2026

Innovation occurs when you remove constraints. In the world of the built environment, those constraints have traditionally been physical, financial, and regulatory. But as global capital seeks outsized returns in an era of higher costs, the PropTech playbook is being rewritten. At a high-stakes session at Cityscape Global, three of the world’s leading venture capitalists revealed where the smart money is moving and why the future of real estate lies in the perfect marriage of bits and atoms.

Green Concrete, Microgrids, Predictive Analytics – What VCs Are Betting on Now

The era of industry-agnostic investing is over. Today, the most successful venture funds are those that possess deep, surgical knowledge of their sectors. Darren Bechtel (Founder & Managing Director, Brick & Mortar Ventures), John Helm (Founder & Partner, RET Ventures), and Will O’Donnell (Managing Director, Prologis Ventures) sat down to decode the current VC landscape, covering everything from robotics on the job site to the AI-driven future of residential search.

1. The Strategy of Specialisation

The recurring theme among the panel was the power of the specialist fund. In a complex industry like real estate, generalist VCs often struggle because they lack the pattern recognition required for physical assets.

Darren Bechtel explained that Brick & Mortar Ventures was founded to be the must-have investor for construction tech. By starting as an expert, they no longer have to compete purely on valuation; they compete on the value they add to the global construction value chain

John Helm noted that RET Ventures acts as the outsourced corporate development arm for the apartment industry. With 60 limited partners who are also the primary customers of the tech they back, they provide safety in numbers for both the startup and the investor

Will O’Donnell emphasised that at Prologis Ventures, they identify where friction exists that new technology can remove. By removing these self-imposed constraints, they open up new opportunities for innovation in logistics and energy

2. Bits vs. Atoms: Why Hardware is No Longer a 'Hard Pass'

While many VCs traditionally prefer the high margins of software, the panel agreed that true disruption in real estate requires dealing with the physical nature of the asset.

"Software is infinitely scalable, but when you’re building buildings or moving goods, you have to deal with the physical nature of the asset," O’Donnell explained. This means moving beyond the screen and into the world of green concrete, green steel, and robotics.

Darren Bechtel echoed this, stating, "I do not believe in a future of a human-less job site, but I do think the future job site looks very different." He pointed to robotics or physical AI as a critical solution for the global labour shortage, where machines handle the repetitive or dangerous tasks that the younger generation is increasingly reluctant to perform.

3. The End of the Search Engine Era?

In the residential sector, the way people find a place to live is undergoing a fundamental shift. John Helm warned that the billions of dollars spent over the last 25 years on search engine optimisation (SEO) might soon be obsolete.

"Search engine traffic is falling precipitously... Because now people are searching for real estate through AI and LLMs," Helm noted. Instead of scrolling through listings, users are asking AI to find specific apartments in specific cities. This shift is forcing the industry to scramble, making their data "friendly to the LLMs" just as they did for Google fifteen years ago.

4. Learning from the Hype: The 'Drones and Short-Term Rentals' Lesson

To understand where the next big win is, investors must first look at what was overhyped. The panel was candid about past industry mistakes:

Drones for Construction: Bechtel cited this as a classic case of tech looking for a problem to solve. Too many startups received funding with only a half-baked idea of the end value for the customer

Short-Term Rental Master Leases: John Helm described the value destruction in companies that took out long-term liabilities against short-term revenues. "Anyone in banking knows you don’t want to mismatch your assets and liabilities," he remarked.

Blockchain for Leases: O’Donnell noted that while blockchain is transformational, it was often applied to the wrong issues. Digitising a single lease between two parties isn't a problem that requires a complex blockchain solution

5. The Audacity of Vision: Saudi Arabia as a Blank Slate

The panel concluded by reflecting on the unique energy of the Middle East. For investors coming from Western markets where development is often slow and incremental, the audacious and aspirational vision of Saudi Arabia is a breath of fresh air.

"When you’re in the United States, it’s very hard to build things. Here, the speed at which it’s occurring is very impressive," John Helm stated. The region offers a blank slate where entrepreneurs can bridge Western knowledge with local ambition to build cities from scratch. As Will O’Donnell put it, the region's growth represents the removal of constraints on a grand scale, making it one of the most exciting landscapes for PropTech globally.

Join the Conversation at Cityscape Global 2026

The investment playbook for the built environment is being rewritten in real-time. As we move from SaaS to bits and atoms, the opportunities for those who understand the physical asset have never been greater.

Be part of the vision at Cityscape Global 2026.