Raj Singh, managing partner of JLL Spark Global Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Real estate is estimated to be a $32tn business worldwide, and during the past decade, real estate services provider JLL has built one of the premier real estate-focused portfolios in corporate VC, under Raj Singh.
JLL Spark Global Ventures’ 12-strong team has invested a total of $425m in about 55 startups, including unicorns Turntide Technologies and EliseAI. Its latest exit came in January, when flexible workspace provider Hubble was acquired for an undisclosed amount.
However, JLL Spark is not resting on its laurels. The real estate industry may be going through tough times as a consequence of high interest rates and hybrid working lowering office occupancy, but the unit is diving into edge technologies such as AI to push it forward.
“A big topic for us is how we make sure the industry and our clients are ready to take advantage of AI, because if they do not, somebody else will and that will not be good”
“Our industry is generally slow in adopting technology,” says Singh. “A big topic for us is how we make sure the industry and our clients are ready to take advantage of AI, because if they do not, somebody else will and that will not be good.”
JLL Spark said at the beginning of 2025 that it plans to increase investments this year, having revamped its internal processes last year to align more closely with JLL’s strategic goals. Recent deals include real estate deal-data provider Ren Systems and Qbiq, which uses AI to automate architectural services for real estate developers.
But Singh says he gets the most pleasure from helping to develop staff and seeing them succeed later in their careers. He is a corporate venture evangelist, too. In theory, he says, CVC has the potential to be the best type of venture capital.
“We have customers and experts who understand how the market and the industry works,” he says.
“You could have been the most storied VC firm for many years, but you cannot necessarily bring your startup actual revenue. In theory, our ability to bring expertise, distribution networks and, of course, the VC money to the table is unrivalled by any other part of VC.”
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
