Fifth Wall Co-Founder Says AI Is Pushing Venture Money Into Real Estate Operators

Brendan Wallace, co-founder and chief executive of Fifth Wall, said artificial intelligence is redrawing what counts as a fundable real estate technology company, in an interview published by Crunchbase News on October 13, 2026.

Wallace said software that serves many industries at once is displacing narrow, industry-specific tools, because property owners can now build simple applications internally. He pointed to Fifth Wall's growth-fund investment in visualization company Higgsfield, which he said real estate agents and leasing brokers had adopted, and to a $135 million investment in Atoms. The firm also backed Antares, which he described as building custom AI systems inside real estate organizations on a development-fee basis.

Fifth Wall, started in 2016 and based in Los Angeles, manages about $3 billion. Its holdings have included Procore, Opendoor, Blend and Hippo. ServiceTitan went public in 2024, and CBRE took full ownership of flexible workspace company Industrious in January 2025 at a valuation above $800 million, according to Crunchbase News. Investors in the firm include CBRE, Hines, Hilton and Marriott.

Wallace said construction technology is a smaller focus now, calling the category one of venture capital's largest graveyards, and named housing affordability and mortgage costs as problems he considers unsolved.

This story was first reported by Crunchbase News.