What’s Next for Proptech After the Covid-19 Pandemic?

Now that “phase two” is well underway for most countries globally, we are all consumed by a two-part preoccupation: when will things go back to normal, and what exactly will be “normal” in a post-coronavirus world? In the first article of this two-part miniseries, we took a look at what the future might hold for the construction industry. Today, we address what could be next for proptech after Covid-19. Will the pandemic stimulate significant change in the industry, or will we bounce back to the way things were before it struck us?

I enlisted the help of some familiar names in the global proptech VC landscape, who have already shared their views with us in the past. They are Pi Labs founder Faisal Butt, Concrete VC founder Taylor Wescoatt, MetaProp cofounder Zach Aarons, RET Ventures partner John Helm, JLL Spark APAC lead Anuj Nangpal, and Taronga Group cofounder Jonathan Hannam.

What effect has the Covid-19 pandemic had on the proptech investment landscape?

As with every sector, in the short term, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the proptech investment market to slow down and investors to exercise caution towards their portfolios and towards new deals. Startups that rely on traffic in the built environment to demonstrate value, or indeed those supporting industries such as hospitality and retail, have suffered.