Venture Group’s New Valley Ventures invests in LAB Ventures

The venture wing associated with Miami’s oldest coworking space has just received a boost.

LAB Ventures, the Miami-based startup “studio” launched from LAB Miami in Wynwood, received an undisclosed investment from New Valley Ventures, the publicly traded Vector Group Ltd. investment fund, which focuses on on the opportunities in the field of real estate technology.

These so-called PropTech startups and companies focus on innovations that help transform the real estate and construction sectors. To date, LAB Ventures has deployed approximately $ 4 million to at least six PropTech startups.

LAB Ventures CEO Tigre Wenrich said his group is looking to raise at least $ 1 million in investments each quarter before the end of the year as it continues to grow.

“[New Valley Ventures] understand that the PropTech revolution is not a passing fad, and by creating New Valley Ventures they are bringing new technologies to their core businesses, ”Wenrich said in a statement.

Miami-based Vector Group is the parent company of real estate group Douglas Elliman, as well as tobacco companies Liggett Group LLC and Vector Tobacco Inc. Vector’s largest individual shareholder is billionaire philanthropist Phillip Frost. Vector CEO Howard Lorber is a longtime South Florida resident; Lorber and Vector publicly launched New Valley Ventures in March.

“We have been following LAB Ventures for a few years now and are very impressed with what they have built in the PropTech space,” said Dan Sachar, Managing Director of New Valley Ventures and Vice President of Corporate Innovation for Vector Group. “By participating in their fund, we have access to new technologies that our operating companies can pilot and to early stage startups in which we could potentially invest directly. And as a Miami-based company, we’re proud to contribute to the region’s growing tech ecosystem.

This story was originally published June 7, 2021 4:08 pm.