Plentific was recently featured as a rising star within property management as French VC Idinvest captured key trends on European tech for 2020.

Europe is uniquely positioned to build global leaders in consumer tech - across finance, healthcare, food, travel, sustainability and much more. Plentific is leading the charge with property management. Let's explore how.

Giants and rising stars.

Idinvest, the French VC, recently put together a report on European consumer tech - identifying trends and charting the growth of giants (companies that have raised more than €100 million) and rising stars (companies across verticals like fintech, mobility and healthcare that are growing rapidly).

Our goal this week is to unpack some of these trends - including a boom for fintech, over-regulation in health-tech, how food startups are impacting cities and how housing is transforming. Let's dive in.

Unprecedented investment.

"Venture Capital investment in European consumer startups has risen at a whopping annual rate of 30% - from €4.4bn in 2014 to €16.6bn in 2019".

european vc funding startups credit medium

Source: Idinvest — European Consumer Startups Map 2020, Medium.

Europe wants the biggest slice of the pie - its disruptive appetite knows no limits and is attracting a larger share of VC money than ever before. Look at 2019, where 16% of all VC investments worldwide went to Europe - compared to 11% just 5 years ago. To find out not just the 'why', but the 'how', 1500 companies were analysed to feel the "pulse of the market". 

To most readers, it might not come as a surprise that fintech is Europe's largest vertical. But it's not all challenger banks garnering this much hype (and subsequent investment) - it's also a healthy mix of API-driven companies, lending and trading startups.

Speaking of which, let's look at how real estate is getting tastier, healthier and more sustainable.

Delivery-only startups are taking cheaper real estate by the horns and optimising it for dark kitchens and groceries (like Keatz and Glovo). In addition to creating and optimising delivery infrastructure across cities, they're also adding a layer of real estate into the mix unlike before - serving up delectable opportunities.

A new frontier for property management.

European VC investment in housing for the past 5 years reveals incredible upward momentum. It's risen from just €94m in 2014 to €842m in 2019.

But even as a resilient market, housing isn't without salient issues - some of which the 'giants' haven't managed to address. A growing demand for community is still fledgling, as city dwellers endure a loneliness epidemic. 

And despite billions spent each year on repairs and maintenance, the UK's housing market still struggles with accountability and visibility within home improvement.

As a rising star within the property management space, we've been recognised on the list for introducing new efficiencies in tenant service delivery, and tackling the issue of quality and trust within repairs.

plentific rising star housing credit techcrunchSource: Idinvest shares some trends on European consumer tech, TechCrunch.

We've spent the last few years honing agile, flexible procurement solutions for housing providers using our single platform solution, which comes uniquely backed by a marketplace of verified trades people. Because our platform spans the process, across all trades and operatives, it unlocks incredible opportunities for data driven decision making too.

And behind simplifying repairs and making them smarter, is a personal highlight for us - the team and our customers too. Many of the work orders raised on Plentific are completed by local trades people, which puts opportunities right back into the community whilst serving them better than ever before.

Big Tech's next frontier might be smart homes - with the 2025 gas heating ban on all new homes driving rapid, sustainable change. However, a more holistic picture of housing reveals an emphasis on getting the digital transformation of the industry right. Laying the foundation for 360 digitisation of a property 'ecosystem' will be key to ushering in smart homes, but also defining the future of business and local communities as we know them. We're honoured to be leading the charge with our platform, marketplace and with recent initiatives like PropertyLab - which you can learn more about below.