New Delhi, June 6 (IANS): JLL Spark, a division of JLL, on Wednesday announced it has created a Global Venture Fund that will invest up to $100 million in companies that aim to transform the real estate industry through technology. The fund will help entrepreneurs and their companies by connecting them with its business lines and clients for feedback and product distribution. According to a report by JLL and Tech in Asia, proptech start-ups in Asia Pacific outpaced their Europe and American counterparts -- with 179 of them raising around $4.8 billion in funding between 2013 and mid-2017 -- over 60 per cent of the global total. "Asia Pacific is home to the world's leading smart cities, many of which are powered by tech-enabled real estate tools. We are committed to cultivating next-generation proptech start-ups and promoting Asia Pacific as a hub of technology innovation for real estate," said its Co-CEO Mihir Shah. Funding for proptech start-ups in the region was predicted to reach $4.5 billion a year by 2020.