Key names quit tech giants
A trio of key individuals have left proptech heavyweights PiLabs and VTS as the funding market remains challenging.
Oxford professor and Newcore Capital chair Andrew Baum, who joined PiLabs as research and strategy partner in 2021, has stepped down from the business, while Henry Martin, who was business development manager at PiLabs for more than four years, has quit to join VC Fuel Ventures. At Fuel, Martin will be focused on fundraising and LP relationships.
Faisal Butt, founder of PiLabs, said the company had undertaken a “very deliberate recalibration” of the business to focus on asset management of its existing portfolio of more than 50 companies and investment teams.
A trio of key individuals have left proptech heavyweights PiLabs and VTS as the funding market remains challenging.
Oxford professor and Newcore Capital chair Andrew Baum, who joined PiLabs as research and strategy partner in 2021, has stepped down from the business, while Henry Martin, who was business development manager at PiLabs for more than four years, has quit to join VC Fuel Ventures. At Fuel, Martin will be focused on fundraising and LP relationships.
Faisal Butt, founder of PiLabs, said the company had undertaken a “very deliberate recalibration” of the business to focus on asset management of its existing portfolio of more than 50 companies and investment teams.
He said that while that had meant departures from parts of the business, its investment team had grown from two to four employees and its partner team to four.
“Our big priorities for 2025 are to keep investing,” said Butt, adding that this means the firm is putting almost all of its resources into its investment team.
“We have made some changes and there have been some leavers on the non-investment team side,” he said. “There has been a very deliberate recalibration so we can go all in on investment and the portfolio because ultimately, when the market is back and LPs start investing again, they will want to see performance and they will want to see a strong, stable investment team, so we are cutting out some of the ancillary roles.”
Butt added that the firm was also prepping to launch its fourth and biggest fund to capture the rising interest in AI. The fund, which will close in 2025, has a £100m target.
Elsewhere, Charlie Wade has quit US-based proptech firm VTS after almost a decade with the business. Wade was poached by VTS from JLL in 2015 to launch its business in the UK.
He has joined proptech Yavica as managing director for the UK, focusing on expanding the company’s client base, building new partnerships and supporting clients.
The departures come as the world of VCs and tech continues to struggle – alongside much of real estate – to attract investment.
According to US publication The Real Deal, VTS made cuts of around 20% to its workforce in the summer as it “re-evaluated” its team to ensure that resources are “allocated in the best way possible”. Part of that reallocation is understood to involve a shift away from the UK and Europe and heavier focus back on the US.
A spokesperson for VTS said: “Over the past few years, VTS has acquired two major players in the tenant experience space and successfully launched products such as VTS Activate and VTS 4 to meet the demands of our clients and the evolving real estate industry. As we continue to scale, we want to ensure that our growth is strategic and that resources are allocated accordingly. Although we remain committed to the UK and Europe, we have made the difficult decision to reevaluate the structure of our team in the market.” This story was updated on 2 December to add details of Charlie Wade’s new role at Yavica.
Image © geralt/Pixabay
