5 Proptech startups you should know about in 2020

You’ve probably noticed that the Proptech sector (translation: property technology) has been gaining traction over the last few years.

This year, the sector is in the spotlight.

It could not have been predicted at the beginning of the year that billions of people across the world would become subject to various lockdown and social distancing requirements. This COVID-19 pandemic is no doubt impacting every industry in some way.

In the real estate industry, it has impacted our ability to buy, sell, rent and use real estate. After all, real estate is a physical asset, and does not lend itself to be dealt with virtually.

Despite, our needs for real estate have not changed.

This is where the relevance of proptech is increasing.

Various proptechstartups across the world are helping consumers and professionals are offering innovate technology to help us deal with real estate.

We’ve scoped out 8startups that are that are helping us work through these challenges.

1. iStaging (Taiwan)

3d Virtual Tours have been available for a while, however restrictions around the world has made it more prevalent. Prospective buyers and renters might not be able to view the property in person and a 3d Virtual Tour is the best way to enable users to explore a property without being physically there.

Traditionally this would involve expensive specialised equipment and software, however iStagingallows you to quickly and easily create 360° virtual tours right from your smartphone. Through sophisticated algorithms, the app converts the images into a 3d model, which can be explored.

iStagingis a great app for real estate agents that want to give potential buyers animmersive VRexperience of the properties.

2. Rentdesk (Australia)

While it’scommon to hire a rental agent to manage the whole tenancy lifecycle from marketing all the way to collecting rent, most rental agents are pretty traditional, requiring tenants and landlords to go in and out of their physical office to handle the paperwork.

With various lockdowns in place, none of this is practical anymore.

Rentdesk is solving just this with an online rental platform which allows landlords to advertise their property online and manage all the paperwork and rent online.

Using artificial intelligence algorithms, the platform provides smart and timely advise to the landlord to assist them with any decision making, while helping them navigate the regulatory environment.

The platform costs a fraction of the cost of a rental agent and lets landlords manage their properties from the convenience and safety of their own home.

3. Foxy AI (USA)

As a buyer, not being able to physically inspect properties means potentially missing out on adverse information. This can be a problem as you might end up overpaying for a property or buying the wrong property.

Foxy AI solves this crucial problem by extracting information from property photos. Its artificial intelligence algorithm is able to obtain various bits of information and provide a condition score based on the information it gathers.

While personally viewing property photos lets you determine a property’s match to your personally tastes and desires, letting a computer scan through it can be more objective and it can also identify detail that a human wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

4. Brickowner (UK)

There can be a lot of work involved in buying and managing an investment property.

Searching for the property, analysing it, getting finance, and managing tenants. There can be also a lot of risk involved as typically a property becomes a large portion of the buyer’s wealth.

In an uncertain environment, it might be best to diversify.

Instead of have to buy a whole property, Brickowner lets investors invest as little as £100 into a property in the UK, helping owners diversify risk.

Unlike a property fund, there are a large number of pre-vetted properties that can be selected from, still giving investors choice of property that meets their investment thesis.

The company manages all the letting and maintenance, which leaving the investor to focus on investment selection.

5. Liquuid (Canada)

With economic pain being felt across all industries, the appetite to get into a huge mortgage to buy a house is low. This can be avoided with Liquuid in Canada which lets homebuyers get into the market with a lower down payment. The company contributes a portion of the property purchase cost to the buyer. The owner can either live in or rent out their property as usual. In return for the contribution, when the owner finally decides to sell the property, the owner simply has to pay back a portion of the sale proceeds back to Liquuid.

from Feedster https://www.feedster.com/business-start-up/5-proptech-startups-you-should-know-about-in-2020/