A one-day, invitation-only gathering of the top investors and operators reshaping how capital flows into the built world. Presented by Thesis Driven and Bisnow.
A one-day, invitation-only gathering of the top investors and operators reshaping how capital flows into the built world. Presented by Thesis Driven and Bisnow.
A one-day, invitation-only gathering of the top investors and operators reshaping how capital flows into the built world. Presented by Thesis Driven and Bisnow.
Thesis Driven has spent years mapping the edges of real estate: the asset classes institutions haven't fully priced in, the capitalization models that don't fit neatly into a traditional GP-LP deck, the operating companies attracting venture-style capital for the first time. We've written about them, workshopped them, and watched them go from fringe to funded.
But the one thing we haven't done is put the investors and operators executing on these ideas in the same room, on the same day.
On August 4, we're doing exactly that.
The Capital Markets Summit is a single-day, invitation-only event in Midtown NYC, co-produced with Bisnow and built for one purpose: to bring together the 250 investors & operators reshaping how capital flows into real estate. There is no conference expo hall with vendor booths, just a well-curated room focused on conversations and themes related to the future of the real estate capital markets.
In the room will be the investors writing the most interesting checks in real estate, such as:
Michael Hunter at Nuveen, leading a global housing and alternatives strategy
Karen Hollinger and her team at KKR, deploying across sectors most conferences won't even put on stage
Chris Keber at Two Sigma, underwriting real estate with a quantitative lens that barely existed in the industry five years ago
James Maher at Sopris, a single family office strategically investing with innovative platforms via co-GP partnerships
Nina Vascotto at ICONIQ and Michael Happel at Jordan Park Group, constructing real asset portfolios for some of the largest family offices in the world
Will Quist at Slow Ventures, backing real estate operators the way Silicon Valley backs founders
Mo Saraiya at Madison International, pioneering platform-level investments that blur the line between real estate and private equity
…plus dozens of other PERE and family office investors sharing their perspectives.
The operators on the other side of those checks are building entirely new categories of real estate business.. The structures connecting them (co-GP partnerships, GP studios, operating company equity, SMAs, continuation vehicles) are evolving faster than any single conference panel can capture.
New capitalization models: Platform investments, co-GP partnerships, joint ventures, SMAs, and continuation vehicles are reshaping how capital meets opportunity. Top LPs and GPs will unpack where the smart money is finding edge beyond traditional fund structures.
The 2026 allocation playbook: Where institutional and family office capital is actually deploying this year, where it's pulled back, and which categories sit one cycle away from real adoption. Straight from the people writing the checks.
Underwriting the real estate operating company: More investors are taking equity in the operator itself, not just the deals. How top allocators are valuing REOCs, what governance and exit structures are emerging, and what it means for sponsors with a new path to capital.
Family office allocation: Family offices are capitalizing managers and concepts that institutional LPs won't touch for another cycle, while simultaneously writing some of the largest checks in established sectors. Leading family offices will share how they're constructing portfolios in 2026.
The GP studio model: Venture-style platforms that incubate, capitalize, and scale real estate operators are emerging as a potentially defining structure of the next decade. Pioneers in the space will discuss the economics, the operator pipeline, and whether the model endures.
AI Tailwinds for Asset Classes: AI is supercharging entire asset classes and creating real vulnerabilities in others, well beyond proptech. A frank conversation about where the dislocation is real.
Debt and structured capital: In a world of persistently elevated rates, the debt stack is doing more work than ever. How preferred equity, mezzanine, and bespoke structured products are being underwritten across both established and emerging asset classes.
Capital formation and liquidity: Who is actually raising in this market, who is stuck, and how secondaries, GP-led recaps, and continuation funds are reshaping exit paths.
Social media and the new fundraising stack: Substacks, podcasts, and LinkedIn are becoming legitimate capital-raising infrastructure. How top sponsors are using public platforms to build LP pipelines and shortcut the traditional fundraising cycle.
Operator Quick Hits: Interspersed throughout the day, five-to-seven-minute lightning talks from operators building in industrial outdoor storage, surf parks, outdoor hospitality, small-bay industrial, branded residential, and more. The asset classes most investors haven't priced in yet.
The day runs from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm, with breakfast, lunch, curated networking, and a closing reception.
We’ve wanted to be in this room for years. We built it because it didn't exist.
Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Location: Midtown NYC
Cost: $750 (includes full-day access, all meals, and reception)
Apply to attend. Space is limited to 250, and applications are reviewed individually.
Brad is the founder and editor of Thesis Driven (www.thesisdriven.com), a publication covering innovation in the built world. Over the past decade he has co-founded General Assembly and Common which generated a combined $500M+ in enterprise value.
Paul Stanton is a Partner at PTB, a boutique investment bank focused on joint ventures, capital raising, and M&A transactions. Paul is a Teacher and Writer at Thesis Driven, developing and growing next-gen real estate & proptech concepts.
