Blog | ReCoTech 2019

On Wednesday 20 November RecoTech 2019 happened, themed “Why we should keep our entrepreneurial eyes on Proptech”. ReCoTech took place at a unique location in Helsinki: an abandonded railway station upgraded with food-trucks, stands and futuristic stages.

The day started with a Speed-dating event organized by Global PropTech at the Dome of Visions stage. 20 corporates/ investors and 20 startups had a series of short meetings of only 2,5 minute each. In this manner they were able to circumvent the mandatory smalltalk that standard networking events require and have more direct, to-the-point conversations.

After this it was time for the CBRE pitching competition, hosted by Ray Lindberg (CBRE) & Wouter Truffino. Out of the 8 selected startups (CHAOS, 720°, Exquance Software, Mapple, Proximi.io, Congrid, Hyperin and CubiCasa), CubiCasa was the big winner. CubiCasa is a fast and accurate floorplan app for creating real-estate floorplans – no technical know-how or special equipment needed! The jury, consisting of Colin Waddell (CBRE), Inga Götz (CBRE), Sarah Sipilä (KPMG), Jacob Bro (NREP) and Risto Inha (Cargotec), explained that it voted for CubiCasa because: it has a clear businesscase, operates in a big marketplace (the U.S.), adds value by solving a concrete problem and already has market traction.

An hour later the podcast and video equipment were set up and Wouter was ready to interview Sarah Sipilä (KPMG) and Carl Christensen (Spacemaker.AI). Stay tuned for the podcasts and youtube movies!

After this we went to the Garage stage where Wouter delivered a keynote about the necessity for real-estate companies to ‘unleash their innovative power’, so that we can take the necessary steps towards sustainability and the digitalisation of the real-estate sector. Thijs van der Burgt (Office App) was also on stage and talked about the importance of creating a good user experience of Office Buildings to attract and retain talent and tenants.

When RecoTech camed to an end we took a cab to visit the Residence of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

We closed the day at the RecoTech afterparty, where we enjoyed a lovely meal and a few wines and made some interesting new connections.

See you next year, Helsinki!