An Interview with Greg Smithies, Fifth Wall

What’s it all about?

I was delighted when the Fifth Wall people reached out about the podcast. For some time I’ve wanted to address areas of the climate challenge, and areas of technology that are hugely important, but don’t often get much press or attention, including on this podcast. In particular the Built Environment is of enormous importance to us all on many levels, it is of course where we live and work, and because of that impacts not just our immediate lives, but as you will hear, contributes far more to carbon emissions than transport, which gets most coverage at present. Greg has a great background, including reporting directly to Elon Musk at the Boring Company and Neuralink. Take a listen.

About Greg Smithies: 

Greg is a Partner at Fifth Wall, where he co-leads the Climate Technology Investment team.

Prior to joining Fifth Wall, Greg was a Partner at BMW i Ventures where he led the Sustainability investing practice, investing in companies such as Prometheus Fuels, and PureCycle (NASDAQ: ROCH). Before joining BMW i Ventures, Greg led Finance & Operations for both The Boring Company and Neuralink simultaneously.

Greg started his investment career at Battery Ventures where he covered early-stage enterprise technology startups, as well as industrial technology buyouts. Successful exits from his work there include Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc.), and IST (acquired by Scott Brand).

Greg was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and currently lives in Oakland, CA. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School where he received a BS in Economics and a BS in Computer Science.

About Fifth Wall:

Founded in 2016 and based in Los Angeles, California, Fifth Wall, a Certified B Corporation, is the largest venture capital firm focused on technology-driven innovation for the global real estate industry. With approximately $2.5 billion in commitments and capital under management, Fifth Wall connects many of the world’s largest owners and operators of real estate with the entrepreneurs who are redefining the future of the Built World. Fifth Wall is backed by a global mix of more than 70+ investors from 15 countries, including Acadia Realty Trust, Azora, BNP Paribas Real Estate, British Land, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, D.R. Horton, Equity Residential, Gecina, GLP, Hines, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hudson Pacific Properties, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Jamestown, Knight Frank, Lennar, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Macerich, Marriott International, MERLIN Properties, MetLife Investment Management, Mitsubishi Estate, News Corp, MOMENI, Nuveen Real Estate, PGIM Real Estate, Pontos Group, Prologis, PulteGroup, Related Companies, SEGRO, Starwood Capital, Toll Brothers, Vanke, and others. Fifth Wall believes this strategic corporate consortium represents one of the largest groups of potential partners in the global Built World ecosystem, which can result in game-changing investments and collaborations in promising portfolio companies in retail, residential and multi-family, commercial, industrial, hospitality, and more.