Property technology (Proptech) is increasingly, becoming the new financial technology (fintech) in the Nigerian real estate sector with players moving with giant strides into the global funding market.
Five Nigerian Proptech firms, mere startups, have at various times in their respective global fund raising efforts, attracted cumulatively $2 million into that space with Eden Life and Estate Intel leading the pack having raised $1.4million and $250,000 respectively.
While Eden life raised its funds to enable it to expand its home services operation across Africa, Estate Intel got into Metaprop in August 2021, with a $250,000 investment from the world’s foremost proptech accelerator.
The other proptech startups in this group are Rent Small Small, Africa’s first proptech company to join Techstars Accelerator, Canada. The firm founded in 2018 by Tunde Balogun, Naomi Olaghere, and Pidah Tnadah, provides people the opportunity for monthly rental payment.
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Spleet is Africa’s first Proptech startup to join Metaprop. The firm, founded by Akintola Adesanmi and Dolapo Adebayo in 2017, is a rental platform that provides flexible rental payment opportunities to people in Lagos, Nigeria.
It offers an all-bill-inclusive flexible rental experience with a mission to build the future of structured and equitable access to housing. It is working towards a future where everyone gets a fair chance at efficient and affordable living spaces.
Yahshud Property Investment is another proptect startup that raised $100,000 funding from Platform Capital. The firm, founded by Abdul-Jabbar Oyekan and Ezekiel Adamu, is a real estate crowd-funding platform focused on providing platform for small investors with limited capital.
In a recent report on Proptech, Dolapo Omidire, Founder/CEO of Estate Intel, noted that technology was revolutionizing businesses and shaping industries globally. He cited the financial services industry, where new generation companies are thinking outside the box, and are constantly exploring how technology can make financial transactions accessible, cheaper, convenient, and faster.
He said that the same narrative plays out in the health, logistics, retail, and a number of other industries across the world, pointing out that, even though real estate, like other traditional industries, has not changed very much in decades, the sector is beginning to get a face-lift with technology.
He quoted Forbes’ definition of proptech as “businesses using technology to disrupt and improve the way we buy, rent, sell, design, construct, manage and make decisions on property investments.”
To him, however, “proptech is simply challenging orthodox thinking in the property space,” adding that over the past few years, a number of proptech companies have emerged in Nigeria, bringing the age-long shifts that the sector has been waiting for.
