The national innovation hub of the construction and real estate sector blackprintpartners GmbH (blackprint), based in Frankfurt am Main, publishes the new "blackprint PropTech Report" for the first half of 2025. Since 2021, blackprint has been analysing the situation of the PropTech sector every six months – as an early warning system, investment compass and indicator of the digital maturity of the industry.
PropTech is growing – but at a slower pace
With 1,318 active PropTech start-ups, the sector is once again recording an all-time high. However, net growth is flattening out significantly: only 54 new active companies in H1/2025 mean +4% growth – after +41% in the previous year. The main reason for this is the decline in start-ups: with 76 start-ups, H1/2025 is almost 30% below the same period in 2024. Particularly affected: the former start-up engine "energy efficiency", which has fallen from 27% to 17% of start-ups.
On the other hand, practical topics such as "Refurbishment & Building in Existing Buildings", "Project Development & Smart City" and new impulses in "New Construction & Material" are increasing. Strikingly, the segments with the highest operational demands – and thus the greatest pressure to act in the industry – are gaining in innovation activity.
Streamlining continues – focus on existing segments
With 22 economic imbalances and 14 final market exits, the level of consolidation remains high. Particularly affected: renovation & construction in existing buildings (32% of cases) and energy efficiency – previously drivers, now under pressure. The average for market exits is 4.7 years after foundation, with strong differences per segment: While energy efficiency PropTechs often fail early (Ø 2.3 years), other areas such as new construction & materials show significantly higher resilience.
Financing volume shrinks – focus shifts
The financing volume for PropTechs in H1/2025 is €471 million – a decrease of -18% compared to H1/2024 and the weakest half-year result since 2022.Strikingly, while the number of deals (56) is falling only slightly, seed rounds remain dominant and the focus is shifting away from early-stage rounds to Series B and selected later-stage financings.
At 56%, energy efficiency also remains the leader in terms of capital raised – albeit with decreasing dominance. New focal points are refurbishment, smart cities and project development, which are already almost or even above the previous year's level by the middle of the year. "Financing, Valuation & Investing" falls completely out of the grid – here €0 flowed into H1/2025.
Investors focus on breadth instead of mass
Despite the decline in volume and number of rounds, the number of active investors increased significantly: +65% to 227 investors. Particularly striking: the massive growth in VCs (+70%) and business angels (+117%). While the big deals are becoming more selective, early-stage financing is spread over significantly more shoulders. Made in Germany continues to attract domestic (65%) and foreign investors, with the Anglo-Saxon regions of the USA and the UK continuing to lead the way. For the first time, 2 Chinese investors were also identified in the first half of the year.
Most active investors in H1/2025
In the regular ranking of the most active investors, there are clear three top places for the first time:
- Bitstone, Momeni & Realyze Ventures (joint construct)
- Vireo Ventures (with a focus on EnergyTech)
- High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)
Malte Westphal, Head of Scouting & Markets and blackprint expert for data and evaluations as well as the associated PropTech matchmaking, formulates the outstanding results: "The data speaks for itself: There are more PropTechs than ever before. Start-ups are weakening, but are available. Economic difficulties do occur, but are generally kept within a relatively irrelevant framework. As a potentially dangerous measuring point, the significantly declining venture capital volume stands out. But without investment, solutions cannot be developed and PropTech companies cannot bring them to market. The evaluations of the hard facts and figures as well as the voices of venture capitalists on the situation of the PropTech sector in the 1st half of the year clearly show that the innovation sector of the construction and real estate industry is in a consolidation phase with great opportunities for relevance providers."
Classification by blackprint
Sarah Schlesinger, Managing Partner & Head of the blackprint Institute, classifies the results of the report and gives an outlook: "The first half of 2025 shows the close connection and impact of the industry crisis on the PropTech sector. In addition, the time of superficial digitization is over. There are neither funds nor sufficient demand for this. What is needed are scalable, robust solutions with a clear return on investment. This is particularly evident in capital allocation: energy efficiency, smart renovation, AI-supported building technology and decentralized energy systems are becoming hard success factors for innovation. While venture capitalists formulate clear demands and trends, there is a lack of structural innovation anchors in construction and real estate companies and the consistent provision of venture capital by the industry. This is a dangerous backlog, which is reflected in the underperformance of key segments and a lack of venture capital flows. Yes, times are hard and difficult, but consolidation is the lever for success. Innovations are and will remain crucial for sustainable success in the construction and real estate sector."
