The third cohort of ATechX, Aroundtown’s start-up and innovation programme, has been launched. It includes seven selected start-ups that will spend the next four months working on technological solutions to structural challenges in the real estate industry – with direct access to real-world applications and operational processes.
The real estate industry is facing profound changes: increasing demands for sustainability and energy efficiency, growing pressure to digitise, and complex regulatory frameworks. This is where ATechX comes in, bringing young technology companies together with established market players at an early stage to put innovations into practice more quickly and make them scalable.
‘Innovative capability is a key competitive factor for the real estate industry,’ says Angie Mahtaney, Principal Innovation Manager from the ATechX team. ‘With ATechX, we are creating the infrastructure in which new technologies can be tested under real-world conditions and jointly developed to market maturity.’
A key feature of ATechX is its cross-sector partner network, which pools expertise, operational resources and market access. The network has been expanded several times in recent months: In addition, Vonovia joined with a European portfolio of over 500,000 residential units in Germany, Sweden and Austria, LEG Immobilien, a leading residential property owner with a focus on affordable housing, emission efficiency and climate protection, as well as the Supernova Group, which contributes its international expertise in the retail segment, and Stoneweg, a global alternative investment group specialising in real assets as well as Realyze Ventures, which complements the partner network with a clear focus on sustainable, technology-driven transformation.
ATechX’s partners include Fifth Wall, LEG Immobilien, noa, Realyze Ventures, Roundhill Capital, Stoneweg, Supernova Group and Vonovia.
The start-ups of the third ATechX cohort
Waitly – Digital platform automating housing waitlists and application management for landlords and residential associations, enabling faster turnarounds and reduced admin costs.
Lita – Building an operating system for robotics in hotels. It allows hotels to manage manpower and multiple robots to see true efficiency gains from robotics.
NANOPLUME – High-performance bio-aerogel insulation. Their material is 3x more efficient and 60% thinner than traditional insulation, offering a cost-effective, low-carbon solution that installs in half the time. Last November, NANOPLUME won first place at the inaugural ATechX Startup Pitch Night.
AskVinny – AI powered assistant that automates the entire residential rental lifecycle, from qualifying leads to collecting pre-tenancy documents. Also handling resident support and troubleshoots maintenance issues to eliminate routine admin work.
Parastruct– Developing & licensing technology to take mineral & biogenic waste (which would otherwise be landfilled at a high cost) and transform it into new construction materials.
VREY – Smart-meter based operating system that allows multi-family asset owners to load balance and manage different energy sources (PV, Heat pump, EV, etc.) based on usage / pricing of electricity. Without the complex legal and administrative burdens of traditional “Mieterstrom” models.
Kestrix – A solution driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning that uses a combination of thermal imaging (from drone scans) and AI to map energy efficiency and heat loss assessments across buildings and cities. Their scans and intelligence give heatloss assessments within minutes and point out specific areas in buildings that could be contributing to heat loss in buidlings.
With its third cohort, ATechX is strengthening its role as an innovation platform at the interface between start-ups, the real estate industry and investors. The aim is to provide impetus for a future-proof, sustainable and digitally supported real estate industry – and to accompany innovations from pilot projects to market launch.
