Though the real estate tech revolution began before the COVID-19 pandemic began, the term, “PropTech,” has become an increasingly popular buzzword in the past year. Despite a 24.7% decrease in venture capital funding in 2020, PropTech companies around the world received over $23 billion in 2020.
Some of the investors in this PropTech boom were recently quoted in an article in Forbes.
Jeffrey Berman, general partner at Camber Creek, a strategic venture capital firm focused on real estate tech companies, said in the article, “The billions of dollars that have already been invested in innovating ‘real estate’ is just a drop in the bucket...COVID-19 became a forcing function for technological adoption in the real estate industry-” If Berman believes $23 billion is just a “drop in the bucket”, that is a great sign for the PropTech industry.
These sentiments were echoed by Taylor Wescoatt, founder of Concrete VC, a European VC firm focused on the real estate industry. Wescoatt stated, “Europe-led investments will start to cross borders more meaningfully than they have in the past. M&A by larger proptech players will increase”. This tech real estate boom is not just limited to the US market- it is and will continue to be felt around the world.
However, while investors and real estate leaders know the value of technology in the space, there is still the issue of many companies not possessing the technical staff to develop these innovations. When asked about this issue, Jonathan Hannam, co-founder of Taronga Group, a real estate investment group, said, “[The] major challenge remains implementation... In order to address this, leading global real estate groups are now adding technologists to their boards and having innovation heads as a direct report to the CEO.”
While it is important for companies to understand the technology they wish to implement, that understanding does not always need to come from someone in-house. Often, hiring an in-house person can significantly delay software or app development. Given the current boom, this is not the time to wait.
For example, we recently worked with a PropTech company called TrueFootage. We developed their mobile app to allow prospective or current home owners to scan their property and fill out a questionnaire that is immediately transmitted to their lender, so their bank has the most up to date interior property data.
We also worked with LetsTriangle, a self tour technology company. We developed their app to give agents the tool to manage self-tours of their properties (rentals and residential), as well as help brokers book self-tours of their commercial properties.
If you need help getting your PropTech off the ground, give us a call.
