MIPIM UK 2015: Crowd funding and peer-to-peer investment could bolster proptech to ensure it survives future downturns, delegates heard today at MIPIM UK.
Dan Miller, co-founder of Fundrise, said: “Everyone is super excited about tech but it is still pretty small in market share overall. How does it work in downturn? Who steps in and funds it? We have built a platform that allows individuals to invest.”
Claire Cockerton, chairwoman and chief executive of technology innovation provider ENTIQ, – the group that helped to set up Level 39 at Canary Wharf – added: “It is just so powerful that the crowd now rallies around to get a project off the ground. Peer-to-peer investment is becoming more common as we are all now more fascinated in investing in each other.
“We want to engage without going through massive central bank. We are not as obsessed with ownership as we once were. We are much more comfortable with being invested in a small share of something for a certain amount of time. Just look at Airbnb. This is kickstarting a revolution.”
As to how seriously proptech will shake up the property sector Faisal Butt, founder and chief executive of proptech incubator PiLabs, said: “Some of biggest revolution opportunities in proptech are emerging over the next five years. We can only make educated guesses on what that will mean based on trends. But the intensity of the shake-up? Where there are technologies that will impact on the consumer market it will be huge. If 50% of all house sellers are selling their properties via an online app in the next five years, that’s industry shattering.”
emily.wright@estatesgazette.com
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