The Monthly PropTech Review - July

It has been a busy couple weeks for PropTech. Real estate is slowly, but surely evolving into the digital age through technological breakthroughs, growing investment and increased conference attendance.

1. Co-living and Flexible Office Providers now Dominate London Office Spaces

For hundreds of years, bank and technology companies were the largest source of demand for central office spaces in London. However, as startup companies continue to grow, many occupiers want some flexibility and ease in their office spaces.

PropTech firms, like WeWork and The Office Group (TOG) acquired 18.3% of all the space leased from January until June 2017. This surpasses the volume the large firms agreed to occupy last year. Property technology is slowly, but surely taking the real estate industry by storm.

2. EagleView Technologies Makes Breakthrough Advances in Property Insurance Claims and Underwriting Technology

EagleView, the technology provider of aerial imagery, data analytics, and geographic information system solutions, acquired OmniEarth for the use of their machine learning processes. These processes allow EagleView to quickly detect property characteristics, like roof shape and condition, and property damage after a weather event.

Insurance, government, construction, and infrastructure markets are gaining immense benefits from EagleView’s machine processes because they can use the received property data to make crucial underwritings and claim decisions. The innovative technology has great potential and could expand its services even further in the future to areas such as solar suitability recognition, water resource management, and more.

3. Berlin’s Green City Solutions voted world’s most innovative PropTech startup

Green City Solutions won a new PropTech competition, organised by Union Investment and German Tech Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC). The young company develops smart solutions for sustainable urban planning that strives to create greener and more livable cities. PropTech is not only making the real estate process easier and more flexible, but also more environmentally friendly.

The Proptech Innovation Award took place in Berlin and attracting entrants from many different fields and countries, such as digital property management, big real estate data, smart building and new investment platforms.

4. Female-led UK PropTech startup Settled tapped to assist public sector international trade efforts

Deputy mayor of London, Rajesh Agrawal, has selected Gemma Young, CEO and Co-founder of UK proptech startup Settled, to spearhead the “Mayor’s International Business Programme” trade mission. The program selects 15 of the top female-led tech companies in London to lead relationship-building efforts with Silicon Valley.

Settled is a rapidly growing property transaction software that, for a one time fee of £499, allows homeowners to fully manage the sale of their home, a groundbreaking development in the real estate market.

5. Welsh PropTech startup enModus, receives £3M in first major round of funding

Welsh smart building technology startup enModus has recently raised £3M in Series A funding with the help of a UK shopping center giant, Breed Reply and Finance Wales.  In addition to their £9M in total lifetime funding and large investment partners, Andy Heaton, enModus’s founder and CEO, says the company’s focus on the “Internet of Things”, particularly in applications in the PropTech space, puts them in a strong position in a huge, new market with a plethora of opportunities.  

6. Rental property search app UrbanCo, disrupts conventional renting practices

Inspired by their rather uninspiring experience looking for rental property in London, husband and wife team Mayank Mathur and Valerie Vigouroux are turning the tables with Urban Collective, an app that aims to fix the slow, dated process of narrowing searches and hiring agents to find property.  

Renters can now download “UrbanCo” at no cost and search for rental property based solely on their most important need - “lifestyle criteria”.  Online profiles outline lifestyle preferences and additionally list reasons for rejecting properties.  

Mathur advocates “UrbanCo” as the perfect app to streamline the rental process in a city made up of many busy professionals like London.  

7. Setting’s TOA PropTech Discussion

This past weekend, Setting hosted our 3rd annual Tech Open Air’s Satellite Event Program to share and discuss the direction and trends of technology in real estate.

The event was attended by over 100 participants, from PropTech startups, real-estate investors and other people interested in the topic. Heated conversations and debates were sparked, covering areas from a possible hype into PropTech investments to Artificial Intelligence and the gap in innovation in the construction space. Read here more information about the event.

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