Real Estate is among the slowest adopters to technology. Having spent 10+ years with Global Consulting companies, I’ve witnessed it first hand. There are multiple reasons for it, which we’ll delve in the subsequent posts.
What is proptech ? What is the landscape ?
Proptech refers to the use of digital technology or platform to improve and streamline various aspects of the real estate industry, such as property management, transactions, and marketing. There are numerous categories & sub categories under the PropTech landscape.
Source: Nima Wedlake@ Thomvest Venture
Construction: All software tools & platforms which aid in the planning, procurement, on-site construction, monitoring, quality check, labour management etc. in the development of properties. Though there is still drastic innovation pending in the way buildings are constructed, there are numerous tools & platforms to make the process efficient & less cumbersome. From planning to project management software to virtual monitoring software tools.
Property Discovery: Enables the end user or customer to find properties for them to buy, rent or invest. Large no. of new age companies have focussed on this as a B2C proposition for residential properties & a few focused on the B2B business for commercial properties. Each of these have many formats & forms of implementation. These could be listing services, aggregators, marketplaces, realtor CRM software, broker marketing software, real estate transaction management software, virtual viewing & other management software in the transaction.
FinTech meets PropTech: The finance world has witnessed tremendous influx of tech innovations & they combine with PropTech to form some of the most innovative startups & companies. These come in B2C & B2B starting from the property appraisal to transaction underwriting to debt / equity financing platforms, fractional ownership, transaction management software.
Managing the property: This is once a property has been acquired & the maintenance phase. Even traditional lawnmowers, cleaners, plumbers, carpenters can be discovered online through the various marketplaces & aggregator platforms. Ranging from lease management software, building management software, amenities & tenant management. This domain varies as per residential & commercial, B2B & B2C. There is a whole world for real estate software tools.
Utilization / Monetization: Making the best use of the property for investors has been a fundamental requirement & there have been many innovations ranging from co-working platforms (discovery & management) to co-living, home sharing, logistics/warehouse management, retail management tools.
Will break down each of the categories & sub categories in the subsequent posts & dive deeper.