PropTech Boom: Real Estate-focused Startups Increased 200% Since 2016

The real estate sector rapidly transformed the way it operated, flagging off a digital journey which laid open the immense scope of technological intervention and implementation. The need to increase efficiencies and ensure sustenance and rapid scalability in real estate opened wide the technology floodgates.

In India as well as globally, the sector was a chronic laggard in technology adoption – until 2020.

Today, PropTech has become a boon to every kind of real estate sector stakeholder from landlords to tenants and investors to brokers. Technological disruptions using various platforms and technologies have far-reaching impacts. According to a media report, 95 percent of buyers engage on online platforms at the discovery stage of their home-buying journey, and 51 percent buy property online.

The number of PropTech startups in India has grown at an impressive CAGR of 200 per cent since the government announced the Startup India Campaign in 2015 – to over 1,400 in 2022 from just 2 in 2016. Real estate-focused startups are serving various sub-segments of the real estate industry ranging from sales, construction, finance, and sustainability.

Among those that have attained unicorn status, real estate sector-focused startups are increasingly achieving this coveted milestone. Today, PropTech accounts for 6 per cent of the total recognised startups in the country.