Little known two years ago, Proptech is now a global phenomenon. Investment in the sector has increased from $222M in 2012 to $2,665M in 2016 (CB Insights). Compass was the first unicorn in real estate, HomeLink and SMS Assist closely followed. These 3 startups alone cover a wide range of activities and represent the scope of proptech: from a network of real estate brokers to a property management tool, a portal and an online property resale purchase algorithm.

All real estate activities are therefore concerned. Services related to the real estate acquisition process are particularly impacted by startups such as Opendoor and Homeloop, which offer individuals selling their properties to buying it in 48 hours at a price fixed by an algorithm. Proprioo attacks agency commissions and offers fixed rates at discounted prices and Lok-iz that remunerates business providers. MyNotary is a platform that generates online sales compromises. For its part, Real Estate promotion is being re-imagined by Habiteo, a startup that uses virtual reality and digital innovation to create a unique sales and marketing solution for new real estate or Buildium, an intuitive and efficient real estate management cloud-based software. Commercial real estate also with VTS, rental management with The Guarantors….

However, there is a contrast between the resale market and the new homes market. While companies position themselves to have the professional replaced in the former market, the latter tends to develop intermediaries and tools to support them. There is also the emergence of new business models: coworking in commercial real estate, coliving in residential real estate, crowdfunding in new construction and investment, the exchange of houses for seasonal rental….

Thus, the challenges that startups can address are multiple. There are many startups utilising artificial intelligence – badi, Ojo, Lab ; Blockchain technologies such as – Harbor, Lakoten ; augmented reality –Realis3D ; virtual reality – Dgene ; 3D printing – Branch Technology – to address these challenges.

Finally, consumer habits are deeply impacted. Some startups help developers to adapt to Habx‘s image, which allows them to modulate the construction according to the needs and demands of future buyers. Co-living and co-working provide flexibility in response to the redefinition of the relationship between work and family life.

London is leading growth in PropTech, technology designed to harness growth and development within the property sector. Numerous PropTech start-ups are joining the burgeoning property technology scene in London, meeting the consumer demand for easier ways to buy, sell and rent property. Start-up Nested is one of the newest firms to join the London PropTech scene, promising to help homeowners sell their property within 90 days.

The British capital has long been a hub for property developers and investors, remaining as one of the most traded property markets in the world, continuing to offer opportunities to investors, landlords and developers. It’s also no secret that London is well-established as a technology hub, with the capital’s Tech City paving the way for technological innovation.

New solutions are emerging. Among them Proportunity helps first-time buyers get on the property ladder by using machine learning to forecast the future value of a property and then letting buyers borrow against the estimate. The company was founded in 2016 by CEO Vadim Toader and CTO Stefan Boronea, who worked with the Google Campus London Machine Learning residency programme to bring their idea to market as a shared equity loan. They have now raised a total of $1.7 million in seed funding for their startup and gained FCA-accreditation to operate as a mortgage lender.