Africa’s Property Technology (Proptech) sector is ramping up and is a key component of future strategies for local REITs, operators and others looking to future proof their real estate businesses as well as VCs looking to invest in early-stage startups and opportunities. Evidence of this ramp up and uptake in African real estate includes: Spleet, a leading Nigerian Proptech start-up’s inclusion into the NYC-based Metaprop accelerator; increasing fund allocation to property technology by VC’s such as Kalon Ventures, Kepple Africa and others; expansion of Proptech into property curriculum studies by universities such as UCT; expansion of global tech leaders such as MRI Software across the African market; and the investment and development in tech specific strategies and services from leading African real estate players such as Broll, Turner & Townsend, and ATTACQ. Actively leveraging five decades of experience to drive development across the African continent and empower the sector with strong technology, MRI Software is one of the leading drivers of Proptech globally.
With over two million users worldwide and with over 70% of the South Africa’s REIT sector using its tech, MRI Software’s scale provides it with a platform to bring new technologies to market and drive adoption of new technologies such as AI powered data acquisition tools and predictive analytics. The first is smart buildings and technologies, which is about buildings having sensors and data – but also about the technology becoming smarter with insights and artificial intelligence to help drive automation. Secondly, physical spaces will become more flexible and respond to the changing needs of people, which means business models and PropTech will also need to become nimbler. Thirdly, engaging resident, tenant and guest experiences matter more now than ever before, because people have much more choice now. While the real estate sector increasingly values data as the new gold; the analysis and usability of the data is what will set apart industry leaders from their peers. To encourage and harness the power of PropTech requires that we maintain two key lines of innovation, which may converge in the future. We have repositioned our team and are investing in: Seeking large efficiencies in our current business operations; as well as creating new ways of offering real estate services.