European proptech specialist Pi-Labs appoints VP in US

European proptech venture capitalist Pi Labs has appointed entrepreneur Ivan Ramirez as venture partner, as part of its international expansion. Ramirez will be the Pi Labs’ first US venture partner, reinforcing the company’s role as a gateway between global real estate and proptech firms.

The appointment of Ramirez follows Pi Labs recent investment into two North American start-ups. He has experience both as a startup founder and working for multinational corporations.

Ramirez was founder and CEO of CommerceInterface, which he sold to Groupon in 2012. He has also held positions as VP of business development and wholesale at Overstock, and was co-founder, chief product officer and chief technology officer at EMOOV.

More recently, he held the position of chief product officer at UAE-based real estate development company EMAAR.

“Proptech is still in its infancy, meaning there is real room for growth, and Europe is well positioned to emerge as a global leader in this space. The real estate industry has started slowly understanding, accepting, and adopting proptech,” Ramirez said

Pi Labs recently appointed five venture partners, who joined over 75 mentors, 60 portfolio companies, and over 100 co-investors in what the company said is the largest proptech ecosystem in Europe.

“We are investing into our team and bringing on the expertise to best support both the start-ups we invest in and those real estate companies which have invested into Pi Labs,” said Pi Labs’ founder and CEO Faisal Butt.

Pi Labs was founded in 2014 and was the first venture capital firm in Europe to exclusively invest in proptech companies. The company positions itself as a bridge between traditional real estate companies and Proptech start-ups across Europe.

Pi Labs has successfully executed two funds, Fund I (2015) and Fund II (2017) and is currently fundraising for Fund III which had its first close in early 2020 having secured €23m.