Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have wondered how this crisis affects the young Spanish proptech ecosystem.
The Catalonian Real Estate Agents Association has studied the proptech ecosystem (BtoB and B2B2C), creating the Spanish proptech map. This map acts as a market study, adding value to companies that offer technological solutions to the real estate market and the professionals involved.
From March until the publication of this post, the whole ecosystem of Spanish B2B and B2B2C proptech companies comprised 230 companies. After the study carried out mid-September, the ecosystem collects 224, which indicates that the ecosystem dropped during the pandemic by six companies (2.6%).
Considering the six companies that have disappeared in this period, we cannot draw an exact technology type or final user pattern. But, we can affirm that the Spanish proptech ecosystem has not suffered as other ecosystems. The pandemic has acted as an accelerator, transforming technology from optional to necessary.
After the study, we draw the following conclusions just applicable to our map:
– Technological solutions have been a real alternative to the impossibility of working in the real estate sector during the lockdown.
– The ecosystem has been highly ductible and has known how to adapt the business to the crisis.
– Companies that propose changes in the traditional business model have suffered a worse experience than those based on the development and application of technology such as virtual reality or intelligent systems, which on many occasions, have increased their sales volume.
– Despite being young companies, many of them have withstood the stoppage, which means they had enough liquidity to cover at least two months. Others have increased their turnover due to a sales increase in their services.
– The dependence on investors has not been crucial in this period. Besides, investors have recently reactivated operations in Spain (as in the recent Idealista operation, which we hope will lead new investments), and companies have been able to keep waiting for this moment.
– Some companies in the ecosystem have transformed themselves by finding changes in their business models that sometimes confirm trends that were already appearing in the market.
This analysis shows that the pandemic has not drastically affected the young Spanish proptech ecosystem. The companies’ movements that we see up and down seem to respond more to a young startup ecosystem’s fickleness than the pandemic’s current crisis.
In conclusion, we can say that this study is a reflection of the digital change in the real estate sector. Proptech is no longer the future. It is the present. Good news.
Sheila Gracia
Service´s Director at the Real Estate Agents Association in Catalonia