START-UPS

6 proptech start-ups worth keeping an eye on

3 Sep 2020

A set of keys beside a house-shaped keyring.

Image: © Aldeca Productions/Stock.adobe.com

As Covid-19 impacts the buying, selling and letting of properties, we look at six start-ups creating technology for the property sector.

Virtually every industry has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in one way or another. In some sectors, business has dramatically slowed down. In others, there has been acceleration towards digital transformation as getting online became make or break for many businesses.

One area that has witnessed growth is the proptech industry as estate agents, buyers and sellers look for a way to do business online and at a safe distance.

This week, we take a look at a variety of start-ups specialising in technology for the property sector, whether that’s commercial or residential. Among the innovations detailed below are online buying and selling tools, valuation technology and communication platforms.

Allthings

Founded in 2013, Allthings is a digital communication platform for tenants, landlords and property managers. With offices in Basel, Berlin and Freiburg im Breisgau, Allthings digitises communication to improve efficiency and transparency, while making properties more appealing to tenants who can use the platform to offer feedback or make requests.

Allthings provides tenants with a platform to communicate with neighbours and property management and make 24/7 incident reports to the proptech firm’s service centre. Along with the community features, the platform also provides a document management service. To date, the company has raised funding from investors including Creathor Ventures, Idinvest Partners and Earlybird Venture Capital.

BidX1

BidX1 is a Dublin-based proptech specialising in online auctions. Founded by Stephen McCarthy in 2011, the firm uses technology to enhance the experience of buying and selling property.

BidX1 has built a digital international property trading platform to help make the buying and selling process more transparent and efficient. In 2018, the company transitioned from offering a hybrid of traditional and digital property sales to being a fully digital property company, offering a wider variety of assets, including apartments and commercial investment portfolios.

The proptech firm also acquired UK auctioneer Andrews & Robertson, growing its business in the UK and Ireland, before entering the South African market. The start-up now sells properties in South Africa, the UK, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland.

Geowox

Geowox is a Dublin-based SaaS start-up that has developed an automated property valuation technology. Founded by Marco Giardina, Paul van Bommel and Stefano Francavilla, the company uses open data and machine learning technology to provide valuations for lenders and investors.

The start-up’s tech aims to use in-depth data and control systems to generate accurate valuations, undiminished by human subjectivity, inconsistency or error. The company collects, cross references and verifies data from reliable sources, in addition to processing maps with computer vision to identify building and plot sizes, orientation and positioning.

Geowox’s technology can also flag and assign high-risk properties for automated, desktop, drive-by or full visit valuations when needed. Since setting up in 2017, the company has received backing from Enterprise Ireland, Growing Capital and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Immo

Headquartered in London, Immo is a proptech business that sources, appraises and acquires centrally located properties at scale on behalf of investors. The company then renovates or redecorates the properties, before ensuring that the properties are professionally managed with the goal of attracting long-term tenants.

The start-up was founded in 2017 by Hans-Christian Zappel, Samantha Kemple and Avinav Nigam. During the pandemic, Immo has been investing in new technologies and innovations to simplify real estate transactions, including 360 viewings, online credit checks and digital contracts for renters who are relocating from thousands of miles away.

Immo’s goal is to make valuing and acquiring thousands of single units easier for property investors, using its proprietary machine learning technology that can reduce the underwriting process from days to a matter of minutes.

Offr

Founded in Dublin by Robert Hoban, Niall Dawson and Philip Farrell, Offr has developed offer processing technology for the real estate sector. Previously featured as a Siliconrepublic.com Start-up of the Week, Offr lets buyers click a button on an estate agent’s website, allowing them to see offers made by other potential buyers before submitting an offer of their own.

The tool allows sellers to track the progress of a sale in real time, providing them with instant alerts when new offers are made, if there is an upcoming viewing or if legal documents have been updated. Buyers can book viewings online, upload proof of funds and ID, pay a deposit and connect their solicitors to the property.

Since it was founded in 2018, Offr’s aim has been to help agencies stay relevant in the evolving digital world, while providing its customers with a blend of human expertise and digital convenience. The proptech firm recently raised €3m in funding to meet the growing demand for digital solutions in the property sector caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Popertee

Headquartered in Dublin, Popertee was founded by Lucinda Kelly in 2016. The company began life as a basic marketplace connecting brands with spaces for short-term marketing and retail campaigns, before expanding its offering to include tools for tracking audience engagement.

Since setting up, the start-up has worked with companies such as Dyson, Samsung, BMW, Sony, Virgin Vodafone and Diageo to provide short-term spaces and insights into customer behaviour. The company offers a range of spaces around the UK and Ireland, which can be booked online.

Popertee offers footfall measurements, which can distinguish between unique and repeat visitors by using identity recognition technology. It also uses anonymised and aggregated measurement techniques to track visitor frequency and share data on demographics and dwell time.

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Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com