In the first week of July 2019, Paris opened its doors for the most innovative European companies in the real estate market. A celebration of entrepreneurship and technology in a market that is changing faster every day. For people on the outside this change might not be immediately visible as it is well integrated in the market. But if you take a closer look, you will be surprised of all the things happening in the PropTech scene.

I've seen many great applications to improve productivity, well-being and quality in the market and narrowed it down in this article to the ones which made the biggest impression on me. So for those, who unfortunately couldn't to be in Paris - here are my impressions:

The New

In the sector "new" I've looked at companies that are not necessarily new to the market but have solutions or business plans that you might not have heard about or never thought that was even a problem.
Here is the collection of the ones that kept me intrigued or even wowed at times.

Strattoopencell

I've never heard of Strattoopencell or even about the problem they are solving. Being born digital, I'm used to be connected everywhere. But because of the way buildings are constructed these days getting good cell reception indoors becomes more and more difficult.
Great, we have a problem, let's build a business model around it, Richard Bourne (CEO) must have said. Thanks to Strattoopencell, builders in the UK can now incorporate and sell great cell reception as a service. The Result: Customers are happy and Real estate developers have an extra revenue stream. That sounds like a match made in heaven, right?!

Archisketch

Eric Lee, CEO of Archisketch, a startup from Seoul was probably the most enthusiastic person on the floor during both fair days! Archisketch sells a solution to quickly digitize an existing space to a floor-plan and 3D model using their hand held device. A great option for real estate agents, which so far had to rely on expensive and time consuming measuring. The Archisketch device, which costs less then a medium prices phone, measures the space, creates a 2D plan and even a full 3D model in only a few minutes.

Workero

Got an office too big for your companies current size?! Workero gives you the opportunity to sublet the unused space to people from all over the world, which might be in town for a few months or weeks. Kind of like an Airbnb for work spaces - Booking, paying and scheduling all in one place. The most obvious benefit, you cover your costs. But you also attract new talents to your office, get fresh input and expand your network.

Note of Noémie, my marketing colleague: Be sure to follow this company and their founders Dirk Paelinck and Thierry Vermeiren as they expand. I praise them already for allowing me to find amazing and vibrant offices to work remote at while visiting other European cities!

Skenarios

A lot of companies claim they can predict the value of properties from data that is just laying around. To some degree that is true, but what about the places where that data is not available?
Skenarios runs complex formulas on large spaces with limited to no data and shows results in just a few hours. I have rarely ever seen data tech in the real estate market that is so impressive and immediately actionable at the same time.

Realiz3D

While Realiz3D keeps the balance between a project based business and a tech firm, it is mostly the technology part I found impressive. Their ability to stream real time graphics to browsers was impressive to say the least.
I would love to see this technology being implemented in a high traffic website to test the limits and see how the public reacts to full interactive sites.

Soldandset

More and more people are trying to sell their house themselves. But how do you start with that, where to place it, what to write? All of these questions are answered on the FREE to use biding platform Soldandset.
Through their professional advice and experience you can start selling faster and you reach more people than ever before. And more people means more bidding!
The platform doesn't even make money from you as a customer when the house is sold. Just like auctioning marketplaces, they charge the buyer for a fee.
According to the founder, the houses that are sold on the site are sold faster and above market price! With a free service, what do you have to loze?

The Known

Not all companies or business models are new and innovative, sometimes it's the little things that make the difference. Here come the companies that are seeing things just a little bit different.

Leica

Not a lot of words have to be written to introduce Leica, being the world leaders on scanning equipment you would expect another high prized scanner to be displayed.
But this time it was the smaller versions that caught the attention of the public. With smaller, more affordable solutions they now appeal to a new segment of the market. Showing that creating digital doubles of buildings is no longer something for only the most exclusive projects.

WeWork

We all know and love WeWork. Stepping into the co-working stations feels like home - it doesn't matter where in the world you are. Their way of putting the customer first and creating a great places for all startups gives them a deserved place in this list although they are not a tech company. Also they were one of the major sponsor of MIPIM proptech, a challenging branding position that we applause!

Rentivate

Although the company itself is still very young, the model is well known. Connecting all your properties from different places and helping you optimize the capacity.
Louis Driegelinck, Founder of the platform is well aware of the competition in the market but with his knowledge of the market and his enthusiasm, I would say they can definitely make a dent in their space.

Immeractive

Focusing on getting your project smoothly through the process of city approval is what Immeracive does best. With firm knowledge of the market and an incredibly friendly team they were among the first to bring game technology to the real estate market and are still doing it to this day. They are still very niche, but in my opinion their solution would be actually useful to many developers in their participatory process of creating cities of the future.

The Trends

1. Act on Data

Data capture and data representation grows in importance. The time of acting out of gut feeling is finally over. There just isn't any need for it any more. Everything can be tracked, analyzed and automated. In the coming years we will definitely see more advanced lead generation and lead capturing software combined with automation. Watching how the market reacts to this mindset change will be very interesting.

2. Mass personalisation

Starting from data, we now have a better understanding of who our customers are and what they want. We used to approach all people in the same way during the sales process, but we now have the power to give a personal touch to everyone without spending a fortune.
At MIPIM the first versions of these personal touches popped up and showed a great potential to the public. Combine this with the PWC real estate trends rapport 2019 and you just know that mass personalisation will be a winner in the next years.

3. CRM and marketing automation

CRM and marketing automation has been active in most of the sectors already for the past years, but we now see it evolving in the real estate market. Since every industry is different, the tools will have to adapt to the complexity of the real estate market. But just seeing the vast amounts of startups as well as larger companies fighting for this space, you know there will be a massive amount of changes.

4. IOT

When the physical and the digital come together, you talk about the "internet of things". Adding sensors everywhere and running complex algorithms doesn't only sound cool, it is incredibly practical. Having spaces react to people in a personal way just gives the inhabitants so much more value and gives the owners so much chances to improve and even up sell spaces.

Other reasons to have attended and to attend the next edition of MIPIM PropTech

Ok, you might not be the most tech-enthusiastic out there and wonder if there are other reasons to be at the fair in the future? What about a great atmosphere, party and open discussions about the directions of the real estate market! But let's face it - Proptech is here to stay, so you better catch up before it caches up to you!

Wannes, co-CEO of Around Media / Prompto.com