From better buildings to financing efficiencies, property technology companies are emerging with all manner of concepts for streamlining different areas of the property industry. An increasing number are aimed providing commercial real estate solutions, with the best up and comers receiving recognition at the inaugural Proptech Awards announced last week.

There were six awards in all – operations & administration; sales & marketing; property & facilities management; ownership, affordability & finance; design & development; and smart buildings & cities. Judging for each of the six awards took place across three categories – start-ups, scale-ups and established suppliers – categories established to ensure entrants were being compared to similar outfits in terms of both business and maturity of their product offerings.

Among winners targeting the commercial field were two innovative startups Exergenics and Lendhaus, and established player Console Cloud. Here’s an overview of what these three are bringing to the table:

Exergenics

Reducing energy costs is one of the most topical issues facing real estate across the board. With this is mind, Melbourne-based co-founders of Exergenics, identical twins Iain and Tim Stewart scooped the pool of innovative proptechs in the smart buildings and cities space with their software that improves efficiency of commercial air conditioning systems.

 This is no ordinary software: its sophisticated set of algorithms are complex enough to monitor and analyse the operations of multiple mechanical plants – running through millions of possible scenarios – while recommending the best adjustments to maximise energy efficiency at the same time. Put simply, the BMS data makes a model of all the equipment required for cooling. The algorithm is then put to work to find the best settings which will ensure a mechanical plant is running at peak efficiency. The result is lower energy bills and, ultimately, long-term cost savings for the customer.

The beauty of Exergenics is its complexity. For instance, the software can be employed to pinpoint which chillers within a system are best for delivering cold water around a building. When performing this optimisation of load balancing among chillers, it can be used across a range of difference chillers, not just one made by a particular manufacturer.

Importantly, Exergenics performs all its functions without disrupting of affecting any any air conditioning systems used for controlling room temperature and the comfort of a building’s occupants, or those used for food refrigeration.

Since launched in late 2019, Exergenics has also won innovation awards from Engineers Australia and the Green Building Council Australia.

Proptech Awards judges noted that Exergenics provided a real solution to a “real problem” and also that the company was “making all the right noises in a sector that is just about to hit a tipping point”.

Console Cloud

 What agency wouldn’t want to streamline leasing processes and increase business? Not one. Console Cloud has formed its cloud-based residential and commercial property management platform for agencies who want to grow their rent roll around this premise. The winner in the proptech award for property and facilities and management was described as a “very strong offering” and “definitely at the pointy end of property management platform offerings.” Cloud Console is designed for Australian and New Zealand property agencies and 

is used for not only property management but also trust accounting.

Within the last few months Cloud Console joined forces with another innovative proptech Snug, which bolsters its offering with an application integration that enables property managers to streamline their leasing processes and ultimately add value by giving owners greater confidence around tenant selection.

Helping Cloud Console come out on top is the fact that it covers so many bases: it can integrate with a number of other property management apps and service providers, be used by small to larger agencies, and contains an app for tenants to manage maintenance and rent payments.  

Lendhaus

 This start up fits the bills as a game-changing, genuine step into the future. Described by the proptech award panel as a managed marketplace for commercial real estate financing, Lendhaus is a global blockchain-based real estate platform primarily aimed at helping borrowers and builders with all aspects of commercial real estate lending. The startup won the award for most innovative proptech in the operations and administration space.

With a website peppered with catchy phrases like “don’t get lost in a loan” and functionality to do such things as quickly compare and choose financing from a list of global lenders, it appears to make setting up a commercial deal as simple as tying your shoelaces. As one judge said about Lendhaus: “a one-stop station for information and execution at this level is very impressive.” Another commented that Lendhaus was a “good concept in a market that clearly can be improved by technology.”