Why are most proptechs Unsaleable?

Structural issues rooted in how proptechs are conceived, built, and taken to market stops an exit or IPO  

(Thought Leadership by Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR)

The proptech sector has matured rapidly over the past decade. Capital has flowed in, incumbents have launched innovation arms, and almost every real estate workflow now has multiple digital challengers. Yet despite this apparent vibrancy, a hard truth persists, most proptech companies are fundamentally unsaleable.

This is not a commentary on ambition or intelligence. It is a structural issue rooted in how proptechs are conceived, built, and taken to market. Below I set out what I see as the core reasons why so many proptechs fail to reach acquisition-grade quality.

Many proptechs address operational irritations rather than existential business problems. Saving agents five minutes per listing, marginally improving reporting, or adding cosmetic automation rarely justifies strategic acquisition. Acquirers pay premiums for revenue protection, regulatory risk mitigation, market access, data moats, and platform consolidation. If a product can be switched off with limited downside, it has little strategic value, no matter how elegant the UX.

Distribution is the central failure point of proptech. Most startups rely on founder-led sales, sell to fragmented SMEs with high churn, lack embedded partnerships or exclusivity, and are not meaningfully integrated into core workflows. From an acquirer’s perspective, this creates unacceptable dependency risk. If growth is tied to one or two individuals, or constant outbound effort, the business is not scalable in a way that survives post-acquisition.

A common proptech profile looks like this: low ARPU SaaS subscriptions, monthly cancellable contracts, and a handful of large customers driving most revenue. This is toxic to valuation. Strategic buyers discount heavily where revenue can churn quickly, customers can renegotiate post-sale, and a single client departure materially impacts EBITDA. Recurring revenue alone is not enough. It must be durable, diversified, and defensible.

Many proptechs are feature-level solutions that should have been plugins, not companies. If a product can be replicated by an incumbent in 12 months, bundled into an existing platform, or supplanted by an API update, then the logical acquirer response is “build, not buy”. Acquisitions happen when buying is faster, cheaper, or strategically safer than building, I always feel that if it gets an acquirer 30-months ahead of the pack then a deal may be on. In my last nine years in this industry I feel most proptechs fail that test.

Pitch decks often prioritise vision over execution, TAM over margins, and future potential over present discipline. This produces companies optimised for raising the next round, not for being acquired. Buyers, however, care about clean cap tables, predictable cash flows, operational maturity, and clear governance and reporting. A proptech that has raised aggressively but lacks commercial fundamentals often becomes too complicated to buy and too small to justify the effort.

Real estate is conservative, relationship-driven, and risk-averse. Many proptechs underestimate lengthy sales cycles, procurement inertia, resistance to workflow change, and low tolerance for system failure. As a result, adoption remains shallow. Without deep usage and dependency, an acquirer sees limited switching costs—and therefore limited strategic value.

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Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR

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Week 35: Changing the Culture of CRE to Be Data-Driven

In this weekly series, we explore how the commercial real estate industry is being transformed by data and digital infrastructure. Guided by the principles in Peak Property Performance, we unpack a new idea every week to help owners unlock value, reduce risk, and future-proof their portfolios. Learn more about OpticWise and Bill Douglas, the authors of this series.

Data strategy without cultural alignment is just a wishlist.

Across the commercial real estate (CRE) world, ownership groups and operators are pouring money into AI, digital, and technology: energy analytics, building platforms, ESG dashboards, tenant apps, smart locks, AI assistants—you name it. Yet even with the right tools in place, many portfolios still fall short of meaningful transformation.

The problem? Culture.

You can’t become a data-driven organization without becoming a data-prioritizing organization.

Let’s explore what that shift really looks like—and how Data & Digital Infrastructure (DDI) makes it possible.

The Legacy CRE Culture Is Not Built for Data

Traditional CRE culture is built on relationships, intuition, legacy processes, and asset-by-asset decision-making. It’s a world where experience trumps experimentation, and where tech is often seen as overhead, not upside.

In these environments, data is:

• Siloed – different departments “own” different data but don’t share it.
• Ignored – asset teams default to gut instinct even when better data exists.
• Delayed – reports lag behind real-time conditions.
• Undervalued – NOI, cap rate, and location still dominate the strategic conversation.

But in a market shaped by ESG pressure, margin compression, escalating expenses, and tenant expectations, this mindset leaves owners exposed.

DDI Enables a Cultural Shift

A proper DDI foundation makes it easy to measure what matters, share that insight across teams, and act on it in real-time.

Data becomes:

• Accessible – unified platforms replace fragmented systems.
• Visible – dashboards show building and portfolio performance at a glance.
• Actionable – alerts and insights connect directly to operational workflows.
• Valued – teams see how data drives real NOI improvements.

But that shift doesn’t happen automatically. It requires new habits, new roles, and executive-level commitment.

Building a Data-First Culture in CRE

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Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR

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Jon Cooke steps down as Non-Executive Director at GPEA

Jon Cooke will continue to focus on innovation within the property sector

Jon Cooke has stepped down from his role as Non-Executive Director at GPEA, the business that owned Fine & Country and The Guild of Property Professionals, marking the close of a distinguished chapter in a career that has spanned more than 35 years across the UK and global property markets.

Cooke played an instrumental role in the landmark 2024 transaction that brought both Fine & Country and The Guild of Property Professionals under the ownership of The Property Franchise Group, helping to shape the strategic direction of the brands during a pivotal period for the sector.

An entrepreneur, innovator and strategist, Cooke joined The Guild of Property Professionals as a Non-Executive Director in 2001 and has been central to the network’s development, growth and long-term vision. Around the same time, he co-founded Fine & Country with Malcolm Lindley, establishing a premium estate agency brand that has since grown into a global network of licensed offices specialising in the upper quartile of the property market.

Beyond agency, Cooke has been a passionate advocate for social impact within the industry. He served as a Trustee of The Fine & Country Foundation, an organisation dedicated to supporting those experiencing homelessness and poverty, and has personally led and participated in numerous fundraising initiatives since the Foundation’s inception.

With a strong belief in the power of technology to transform the property sector, Cooke has also been a driving force behind the evolution of Nurtur, which supplies technology services to the financial services and estate agency industries. Nurtur’s mission is to build a scalable and highly profitable technology platform offering a broad range of services to a growing international base of property professionals.

Throughout his career, Cooke has worked closely with teams delivering brands, technology and data solutions to the financial services and real estate sectors. Aside from Fine & Country and The Guild, he has been involved in establishing other successful ventures such as iamproperty and Intercounty, as well as the expansion of established businesses such as YourMove and Lomond through organic growth and acquisitions. Alongside management teams, he has advised on carve-outs, private equity funding rounds and exits to both private equity and listed businesses.

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Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR

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