A new $60 million technology fund is set to accelerate the adoption of construction innovation in Australia, with a particular focus on modular and prefabricated housing. The vehicle has been launched by Melbourne based Boman Group in partnership with JPCX, the investment arm of logistics and building supplies company JPC Group. With its first investment already made in an Australian modular housing business, the fund aims to support solutions that shorten build times and reduce costs across housing projects.
New Fund Targets Construction Innovation
The fund will back companies developing technologies such as modular construction, robotics, advanced building materials and digital platforms that streamline the building process. Boman Group and JPCX are each contributing half of the initial $60 million, and plan to make between six and eight investments, typically writing checks of around $10 million. Most of the capital is expected to be deployed over the coming months, after which the partners intend to open the strategy to external investors and grow it into a larger vehicle.
Modular Housing at the Center of the Strategy
Modular and prefabricated housing sit at the core of the investment thesis, viewed by the partners as a method to deliver high quality buildings faster and at lower cost. JPCX director Paddy Jayawardena said advances in modular construction should, within the decade, allow homes, daycare centers and apartments to be designed and completed within three to six months. He added that modern modular buildings are intended to be indistinguishable from traditionally built structures, aligning speed and efficiency with aesthetic and functional standards.
Addressing Australia’s Housing Challenge
The fund is being launched against a backdrop of mounting pressure on Australia’s housing system, where supply continues to lag population growth. The latest State of the Housing System report indicates the country is on track to fall short of its 2029 housing construction targets by around 260,000 dwellings. The partners argue that scaling industrialized construction methods, backed by targeted capital, is one of the most practical ways to help close this gap.
A Market Ripe for Prefabrication
Despite global examples, Australia has been relatively slow to adopt off site construction at scale. Industry body PrefabAUS estimates that prefabrication accounts for less than 10 percent of Australian home builds, compared with around 84 percent of detached houses in Sweden that use prefabricated timber elements. Boman Group CEO and founder Eric Gao believes this disparity highlights the opportunity for investors, noting that modular housing is already a mature technology in parts of Asia and northern Europe that can be adapted to local market needs.
Partners Bring Capital and Industry Insight
Boman Group, which manages around $860 million in assets, was founded in 2011 by Eric Gao and Julius Wei and rebranded from its original BMY Group name in 2023. The firm has built a track record backing high growth technology and innovation companies, including participation in funding rounds for OpenAI and Anthropic, and is now positioning property technology as a major next focus area. JPC Group, through JPCX, brings three decades of experience across shipping, logistics and building materials, and Jayawardena said this provides a detailed view of inefficiencies across the construction value chain.
The launch of the Boman Group and JPCX construction technology fund signals growing investor attention on solutions that can reshape how Australia builds. With modular housing, advanced materials and robotics at its core, the strategy is designed to compress construction timelines while maintaining quality standards and improving cost efficiency. If the fund succeeds in scaling its portfolio companies, it could help shift Australia’s housing market toward more industrialized, technology driven delivery models at a time of significant supply pressure.