800% Growth of The Israeli ConTech and PropTech Ecosystem
800% Growth of The Israeli ConTech and PropTech Ecosystem
Two years ago we first introduced the Israeli ConTech/PropTech Startup Landscape Map in collaboration with Innogy Innovation Hub. We are now issuing the 2020 edition with an overwhelming increase of 45% in the number of startups in our ecosystem in the past year.
From 120 startups last year, our ConstructionTech and PropTech ecosystem has grown to 175 startups and still counting. This number represents an overall increase of nearly 800% in the past four years.
Investment wise, the Israeli ConTech/PropTech sector has continued to attract global investments and attention this year. Even amid the Covid-19 crisis, Israeli startups have continued to secure investments, indicating the high confidence of investors in our industry.
The first Construction 4.0 conference ConTech had in Tel Aviv in February 2020 brought together 400 local and international participants. Some of the international visitors included the venture capitals Metaprop and Foundamental, construction firm VINCI, design and engineering firm Arup, and global manufacturers of building materials and products, including CEMEX and Saint Gobain. This was another step toward our goal of turning Israel into an international ConTech leader, in the spirit of the ‘startup nation’.
A Breakdown of the Israeli ConTech/PropTech Ecosystem Map for 2020
Our map has evolved to include more than 50 new players in the Israeli ConTech/PropTech ecosystem. As in the previous editions, it outlines the different sub-sectors of this complex landscape, to enable strategic investors a bird’s-eye view of our industry.
One way to look at the industry is through the perspective of the building lifecycle or value chain. We have segmented the map based on the stages of the building/infrastructure lifecycle, enabling the different stakeholders to compare various technologies that solve similar or related problems.
This year, two new segments were added to the map: infrastructure technologies and smart homes. The first reflects the growing penetration of tech into the infrastructure world and the understanding that infrastructure is an attractive market with generous budgets. The second new segment reflects a flourishing global trend and the entry of large global players into the smart-home tech arena. Where startups are relevant to more than one segment, we included them in the category that represents their strongest competitive advantage.
The left side of the map shows ConstructionTech startups, including the segments of advanced materials & building methods, infrastructure technologies, enhanced on-site execution, inspection & as-built monitoring, safety, project management & collaboration platforms, and planning & design.
The right side of the map shows real-estate driven startups categorized into real-estate marketing solutions, marketplace, location-based services, real-estate insurance & securities, real estate finance & investment platforms, smart homes, and property/infrastructure management & maintenance.
Positioned for Continued Growth
At ConTech, our main stakeholder is the construction industry, but we also work closely with startups and run a ConstructionTech Incubator. This situation best positions us to build the bridge between the worlds of construction and Tech.
We foster bottom-up change by working with a growing number of General Contractors (GCs) who partner with us to test and sponsor newly developed technologies. At the same time, we promote top-down change by working together with the government and large corporations to support local ConTech and PropTech startups and to remove regulatory barriers.
As a result, more and more entrepreneurs, investors and construction industry players understand the market potential and join the efforts to digitize and modernize the construction sector.
The growing public and government awareness of the ConTech/PropTech sector not only results in expanding investments, but also prompts new plans, accelerators, and public funding programs, including partnerships with international corporates. This, in turn, brings us closer to fulfilling our vision: Making Israel a global hot-spot for ConstructionTech startups.
The biggest challenge of our ecosystem remains the adoption of new technologies by the AEC sector (Architecture, Engineering and Construction). In order to accelerate the pace of adoption, we need to make the business case of technology implementation more compelling. New benchmarks are needed to effectively measure and compare savings, efficiency and ROI resulting from technology adoption across all stages of the project lifecycle.
Expanding our ecosystem through technology implementation is part of our mission statement. As we continue to bridge the gap between GCs and tech, pursue regulatory changes and aim for clear benchmarks, we expect to see further growth of our ecosystem map in the coming years.
