February 21st, 2024
Unveiling the first dedicated real estate backer of emerging operators in Europe: CRAYON PARTNERS
Thibault Weston Smith and Mathias Flattin are pleased to announce the creation of CRAYON PARTNERS, the first dedicated real estate investment partner for emerging operators in Europe. Leveraging the duo’s 25 years of combined real estate Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC), the firm was set up to back the innovators who reinvent the way to buy, build and operate assets whilst shaping profitable, nature positive and socially-savvy models.
Emerging operators pioneer innovative real estate models to leverage tangible assets and tackle housing, commercial real estate, or infrastructure challenges, making them more accessible, reducing carbon emissions, or making assets more liquid. Similar to student housing and data centers in the 2000s, or coliving less than a decade ago, new transformative and innovative real estate approaches emerge over time, primarily dictated by users' new behaviors.
The issue is that these operators struggle to attract real estate investors in their early years of operation because their track record is limited to a handful of operations (usually funded by business angels and VCs, when they allow it...).
CRAYON PARTNERS bridges this funding gap by structuring their first major institutional financing (PropCo) in an OpCo-PropCo relationship with the operator. The team identifies, calibrates, manages risks, and supports these new categories of real estate assets to become the European leaders that will transform the way we live, work, and play.
With over 300 companies already identified in Europe, there is a growing need for real estate capital to fuel these innovative initiatives. Some of the new models CRAYON PARTNERS is focused on are for example "rent-to-own" to facilitate property ownership, “equity release” to unlock liquidity from homes, new “low-carbon data centers” (to address the challenges of generative AI), or "parking repositioning" (to recreate value from underground space), or even "SMRs" i.e. Small Modular Reactors (nuclear plants).
Mathias Flattin, co-founder, OpCo expert and seasoned VC with over 13 years of experience, leads the selection of “the right OpCo in the right country”. Having spearheaded one of the first PropTech funds in Europe and invested in 40+ startups, Mathias brings a wealth of OpCo.
Flattin states, " CRAYON PARTNERS is driven by performance and impact, but PropTech has also taught us that transforming real estate takes time. Emerging operators offer sustainable solutions to adapt the industry to its challenges, but venture capital funding is often not suitable for these models, as it is too short-term and demanding. The OpCo-PropCo model allows the company to grow through its revenue (by financing its real estate operations) rather than relying on external capital. We unlock the growth of these future models by giving them access to institutional investor partners and family offices who trust us to qualify and structure these opportunities."
Thibault Weston Smith, co-founder, PropCo expert, oversees the real estate investment activities across Europe. Thibault has over 12 years of experience in investing, structuring and managing several billion euros of real estate projects across Europe, America and Africa, including one of the largest OpCo-PropCo deals in Europe recently.
Weston Smith emphasized: "The real estate industry is changing, and we need to test new ways to buy, build and operate assets. Think out of the box. Shake up conventional wisdom. Trust bold entrepreneurs. Generate impact. Through CRAYON PARTNERS, we now have a platform to address these attractive models. We believe that our unique combination of real estate PE and VC skills allows us to select the best operators and help them build robust real estate portfolios that will attract institutional funding in the future. Pick your crayon and join us in shaping the future of the built environment.”
CRAYON PARTNERS is currently structuring its first investment that will be announced in the coming weeks.
About CRAYON PARTNERS
CRAYON PARTNERS is the 1st dedicated real estate investment partner for innovative and emerging operators who reinvent the way to buy, build and operate assets whilst shaping profitable, nature positive and socially-savvy models.
Created in 2024 by Mathias Flattin and Thibault Weston Smith and headquartered in Paris, France, CRAYON PARTNERS aims to make a meaningful impact on the real estate investment landscape in Europe by investing in real estate alongside emerging operatorswhilst generating above-market returns through innovation and technology. The team covers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
