Dr. Claudia Nagel is founder and CEO of High Rise Ventures, a company builder for PropTechs. The company focuses on supporting tech start-ups with proven technical solutions that have not yet found a concrete application in the real estate sector. Claudia was previously Managing Director of KIWI for seven years. She provided the idea for the company and founded it in 2012 together with Christian Bogatu and Peter Dietrich. KIWI is the market leader for digital access control in the housing industry.
The speed with which digital business models with a positive product market fit scale is, in my opinion, underestimated by the established market participants. Just as Airbnb’s disruptive business model has taught the hotel industry to fear, there will continue to be new, unexpected market participants.
The digital property management solution for self-managers. A lot has happened here in recent years and yet this segment in particular is very complex and there are still large gaps. New providers have brought digital solutions for owner community management, large property management or even commercial real estate to the market. But the big breakthrough is still ahead of us.
In terms of electricity for tenants, the team of Einhundert impressed us with a transparent digital consumption overview in their portal and app. The combination of great UX and a hardware product from HUM Systems with their product livy is another example. Thirdly, the digital management of Betreiberpflichten, a new product line of Solutiance AG, must be mentioned.
The idea of “space as a service” and flex models is spreading at a rapid pace in the area of living. The CoLiving trend is on the advance and, in addition to established providers such as Medici Living, there are numerous new players in the field, such as Xlife from Copenhagen or GoLiving from Berlin. There are also CoCo (CoLiving CoWorking) providers such as C82.
Telephone appointments between craftsmen, owners and tenants. This is by far the most inefficient process at the moment. Since I myself am currently affected by water damage in two objects, I was part of this completely unnecessary telephone coordination loop. I can only remind of Doodle, who revolutionized scheduling in the private sphere.
As a company builder, we can also incubate a few ideas. One example is intertempi GmbH, a young company from Berlin, which offers flexible use of office space via a tech platform and thus enables tenants and owners to operate spaces with a high degree of adaptability.
We spent several months working on Tiny Houses and Microliving and are convinced that light, small, alternative buildings and constructions should be made possible, especially for temporary use. Unfortunately, the authorities and the building law, which is also different in each federal state, do not cooperate yet. We are giving away a great opportunity for innovation here!