PropTech startups as a growing asset value in the Real Estate industry

Shopping centers come as modern department stores, cultural centers, shopping streets, meeting points and mobile working spots, as an all-in-one package deal. This is where the X and Y generations cross paths. 30% of customers are merely enthusiasts of shopping and malls, but an astonishing 70% are regulars. More than 70% of Ys and 86% of Xs use smartphones as they shop and they expect their technology to be accommodated for.

Commercial Real Estate is increasingly driven by technology companies, not only as tenants, but also as a solution provider — facilitating better working conditions, energy efficiency, durability and versatility of spaces.

Also the smart homes phenomenon within residential projects has gone well beyond being a trend. There is technology available for the inside and outside of homes to make life more secure, pleasant and easier.

Innovations in PropTech

Technology is quickly transforming real estate industries and we recognize the tremendous need among corporations to pro-actively implement digital transformations. One way to do this is by embracing an openness to solutions offered by tech startups and a willingness to find a way to reach out to them and collaborate. Here are some examples of successful innovations within the PropTech sector:

GenieBeltFounded in Copenhagen, GenieBelt has reached over 2000 users since its public launch in November 2014 and currently has users in over 100 countries. The company has a lot of success stories showing how they have helped construction companies stay more organized. For example, the Danish construction firm Juul & Nielsen spent time and money in finding digital tools that will support the company’s digital optimization process. The tool provided by GenieBelt fit the requirements for project management, communication and collaboration. “ In my 27 years of experience in construction, I have never come across anything as good as GenieBelt. I expect a company-wide saving of 2%-4% as a result of using GenieBelt”, said Tommy Nielsen — CEO of Juul & Nielsen General Contractors.

FST Biometrics,The partnership of FST Biometrics, an In-Motion Identification technology provider, with Genetec Inc., a leading manufacturer of open-platform, unified IP security software company, is yet another example of technological revolution. They work together on integrating the FST biometric fusion of identification technology, which combines face recognition and body behaviour analytics, with the Genetec Synergis access control system. Here’s more info about the partnership.

RavtiReal estate developer and operator, Tishman Speyer and entertainment company, Regency are saving up to 30% of HVAC-related expenditures by using Ravti software. Ravti is a startup that aims to improve and optimize HVAC systems. They are also a winner of the MIPIM real estate startup competition in the smart buildings category in 2017.

StacksourceAnother winner of the MIPIM startup competition is an online platform for commercial real estate loans called Stacksource. They won in the category for transactional technologies. The company was founded in December 2015 as a fintech platform for the $3T-worth commercial mortgage market and is focused on helping borrowers easily access online lenders’ capital, thereby shifting mortgage brokers towards 21st century. “Our pitch highlighted the problems of Fragmentation and Inefficiency in the current commercial real estate lending market — and how we can look to online lending trends in other industries for solutions,” said Tim Milazzo, founder of Stacksource.

Acquisitions
Some companies showed great success on the market and were acquired by bigger corporations. Some examples are Floored, acquired by CBRE group in January 2017, and PivotDesk, acquired by Industrious in March 2017.

Investments
JLL India has launched a new vertical to invest in technology startups in the real estate sector, along with the first such investments in Foyr.com (a platform for visualising real estate space) and Cloud1 Enterprises (which promotes efficiency in employee transportation). “Estimated at $2 billion in India alone, the employee transportation sector is currently highly fragmented, inefficient and opaque. The potential for further optimisation of company transportation costs via data analytics and telematics is phenomenal,” said Anuj Nangpal, head of India Real Estate Technology Ventures, JLL India.

So, as the saying goes: disrupt or be disrupted — research, collaboration and investment in PropTech startups is going to be essential for growing asset value and developing competitive advantages in the real estate sector in the upcoming years.