SIX MONTHS IN PROPTECH – HOW SUPERTECH IS SUPPORTING THE SECTOR
PropTech is one of the world’s fastest growing sectors. Between 2020 and 2021 more than $12 billion was raised by and invested in PropTech firms globally. In the West Midlands we have some of the most innovative and internationally recognised companies, including Nimbus® Maps, CrowdProperty and Purplebricks. So why is the region such a good launchpad for PropTech businesses and what is being done to help grow the sector?
SuperTech was launched in 2021 as a collaboration between the West Midlands’ largest business and professional services firms and its fastest growing tech businesses. From the start there has been a focus on close collaboration between sectors including FinTech, PropTech, LawTech and InsurTech. PropTech itself is gaining a real benefit from this cross-sector approach, with a number of showcase events bringing together financial, legal and investor expertise to help grow firms.
Catalysed by a strategic partnership with the UK PropTech Association and led by two of the SuperTech PropTech leads Mike Bristow and Simon Davis, a series of initiatives have been setup to help promote and grow the sector. Here’s an overview of the last six months in PropTech, including details on how to get involved.
May - Establishing PropTech in the West Midlands
An inaugural event took place in May, providing in-depth insight into the West Midlands’ most innovative PropTech businesses, featuring:
Nimbus® Maps – A powerful property intelligence platform used by thousands of UK investors, developers and property professionals to find sites, assess viability and connect with owners.
CrowdProperty – The UK’s leading specialist property development lending platform, which leverages technology to provide quick and easy finance for property professionals, inflation-beating opportunities for investors and unlocks sites to improve communities.
Vanti – Embedding technology into new and existing buildings to provide, design and develop solutions that help clients grow, save energy and money, attract and retain staff and become more productive.
SPICA Technologies – Making work a better place through use of data and digital twin technology to provide workplace transformation for clients around the globe.
Hosted at law firm Shoosmiths and run-in conjunction with the UK PropTech Association, the event was open to all of those working within real estate and the built environment both inside and outside of the region. Often seen as a London-centric industry the showcase was the first event of its kind to demonstrate the breadth and depth of PropTech expertise in the West Midlands.
June - Harnessing Technology to Tackle PropTech Challenges
As the first region globally to fully support no-code development, in June, SuperTech combined no-code and PropTech expertise to host the West Midlands first PropTech hackathon. More than 20 citizen developers got together to help build new prototype solutions. Technologies developed included:
New ways to collect, analyse, and understand sustainability data
Digitising paper-based purchasing processes and bringing together details on grants and schemes designed to support property purchase
Creating new ways for property owners and developers to demonstrate accountability
The hackathon, introduced some of the region’s aspiring talent to the PropTech industry, developed skills, and helped further promote PropTech.
July – Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in PropTech
The second showcase event focused on PropTech firms making use of augmented reality and virtual reality to transform the property industry. Highlights included:
Fulcro – Experts at removing risk and improving processes for the construction, engineering, architecture, and infrastructure sectors. This is achieved through the targeted application of innovative technology, skilled people and a wealth of experience. They're also responsible for Fulmax - an extreme collaboration portal which provides a 1:1 experience of a project, and its related data, utilising cutting-edge VR that critically allows teams to work together rather than alone via a headset.
VU.CITY - Combining the power of data with the largest, most accurate 3D digital city models, VU.CITY helps developers to understand the implications of change in the built environment. Live in Birmingham now, alongside other UK cities, this proptech expedites planning decisions through leading visualisation.
Taran3D – Bringing projects - particularly architectural visualisations for interiors - to life through immersive technologies, translating ideas into exciting 3D experiences. The Taran3D Portfolio includes virtual museums, interiors design and Birmingham's mascot for the Commonwealth Games.
The event drew attention to Birmingham and the West Midlands as a centre of development and utilisation of AR and VR in the built environment.
July – Creating a Blueprint for PropTech Growth
In July the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) commissioned SuperTech supporter CBRE to outline the strategic opportunity for West Midlands PropTech.
Speaking at the launch Harri John, CBRE’s Head of Digital Advisory, said: “We are seeing an increasing shift in the importance of PropTech for our clients, with technology for real estate now becoming a ‘must have’ as opposed to a ‘nice to have’. This demand is being driven by the need for better outcomes in the sector across sustainability, efficiency, productivity, experience, and security.
“The West Midlands now has a real opportunity to think differently about how it can effectively drive innovation and bridge relationships across the public and private sector, leveraging the strengths of the area to create an ecosystem that helps these PropTech companies to grow and thrive.”
The two-part conclusion of the report identified that:
PropTech presents a fast-growing opportunity within real estate and the wider built environment. The West Midlands locationally and functionally provides a strong foundation for the creation of a PropTech eco system made up of start-ups, investors, tech firms, real estate corporate, academia, government and media. The successful formation of this ecosystem could generate incremental economic value for the region.
The public sector (including entities such as GBSLEP) have an enabling role in the initiation and development of a successful PropTech ecosystem in the West Midlands. It is likely that the public sector will need to initially play a leading role in the creation of the ecosystem, creating the identity, providing incentives to start-ups and supporting wider educational opportunities. However, this would not be in isolation, and a key part will be in bringing together wider stakeholders to drive the initiative forward and gradually handover to the private sector.
As the UK’s first professional technology supercluster, SuperTech will work with public and private sector partners, including GBSLEP, to help implement the blueprint.
Speaking about the advantages of being based in the West Midlands Mike Bristow, CEO & co-founder of CrowdProperty and SuperTech’s PropTech co-lead, said:
“The West Midlands is a very powerful place for us to be based as a disruptive, high growth stage PropTech / FinTech business, allowing us to create a stronger, more resilient business stemming from a combination of an extensive talent pool, lower fixed cost base, physical proximity to clients and an inspiring employer brand.”
An executive summary of the PropTech blueprint can be viewed here.
September – Investor insights within PropTech
The third PropTech showcase event focused on investment and provided an opportunity to hear from and interrogate all perspectives in the investment process. This showcase featured:
Dhruv Gupta, Pi Labs - Founded in 2014, Pi Labs invests in early-stage proptech startups which are transforming how we design, build and experience physical spaces across Europe – where it is the most active proptech VC. Dhruv Gupta, Investment Manager, spoke to the audience about the VC process from their side sharing top tips and insights to prospective applicants.
Jack Cornes, Hausbots - A West Midlands proptech with a unique wall climbing robot that can be used for exterior painting, warehouse painting and building and infrastructure inspection and surveying. Hausbots is part of the Pi Labs investment portfolio and Jack shared his approach and journey to this position.
Mike Bristow, CrowdProperty – Mike is CEO and co-founder of the award winning proptech-fintech firm. He also sits on the investment committee for Pi Labs in addition to being an investor into the VC fund. Mike talked from his unique perspectives in these roles to raise ambition and connectivity of WM proptech early-stage businesses.
Steve Barnett, Shoosmiths - A major law firm, offering strength in depth across all core disciplines in the UK. Steve specialises in VC funded transactions, and provided his perspective on the proptech market as well as common pitfalls and opportunities for VC investment recipients.
Future development
Like FinTech before it PropTech is the next high-growth technology enabled sector. With more than 25 dedicated PropTech businesses operating in the region, employing over 1,000 people, there is no reason why we can’t foster a strong community. Home to more than 48,500 business, professional and financial services companies contributing £28 billion to the regional economy annually and the largest regional tech and digital cluster outside of London with 76,000 people employed across 12,000 tech and digital companies, we’re an ideal location for any technology-enabled business and particularly PropTech.
To fully demonstrate the cross-sector benefits available to West Midlands PropTech businesses a fourth showcase event is being held in November. The event will bring together leading industry figures and experts to discuss the latest opportunities within the PropTech sector.
To find out how to get involved in SuperTech visit: https://www.supertechwm.com/