01Move
DNA dimensions
ARR per managed unit / branch / portfolio, MAU + landlord + tenant seats, ICO + AML + ARLA + RICS evidence, EPC + MEES + Renters Reform compliance readiness, runway months and renewal cohort retention.
All playbooksStartup & tech
Proptech playbook.
An early-stage London proptech founding team building tools for residential / commercial real-estate, landlords, agents, build-to-rent operators, social housing or facilities management. The win is reaching first paying enterprise landlord / agent / FM customers while staying ICO + AML + ARLA + RICS + EPC-policy aligned.
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Overview
A London proptech at pre-seed → Series A typically has £0–£2m ARR, 5–18 staff and 14–24 months of runway. The UK rental market is mid-reform — Renters Reform Act 2026 commencement timetable creates a tailwind for compliance, arrears-management and tenant-experience tools. The biggest lever is choosing the right buyer segment — lettings agents (15k branches) pay £80–£320/branch/month, BTR operators (£60bn UK pipeline) pay £24–£140 per unit/yr, housing associations pay £180k–£900k per RP. The second lever is dominant-CRM integration — anything that doesn't talk to Reapit + Alto + Jupix + Yardi can't break into enterprise. This playbook covers operationalising a London proptech from incorporation through first enterprise customers.
£24–£140 / unit / yr UK 2026
ARR per managed unit
9–15 months from MVP
First enterprise landlord
88–96% renewal rate
Branch / portfolio retention
What you'll need
Equipment list with real 2026 UK prices.
Sized for a 2–4 chair shop. Buy mid-range on chairs and clippers; cheap kit fails inside 12 months and walks away with your barbers.
01
Team setup (5–12 staff)
Workstation per FTE
£1,800–£3,400 each
Co-working (Plexal / Huckletree / Second Home)
£300–£720 / desk / month
Bookable demo room for agency + BTR meetings
Included or £35/hr
Property-tour kit (matterport / 360 cam) if relevant
£1,400–£3,400 one-off
02
Product + integration infra
Cloud (AWS / Azure, UK region)
£420–£4,800 / month
Reapit / Alto / Jupix / Yardi / MRI integration toolkits
£2,400–£14,000 one-off per CRM + revenue share
Open Banking + payments (TrueLayer / Plaid + Stripe + GoCardless)
£140 / month + per-txn fees
Observability + audit logging
£280–£2,400 / month
03
Compliance + GTM
ISO 27001 + Cyber Essentials Plus
£12,000–£32,000 / yr
AML supervision (HMRC) + tenant referencing partnerships
£300 / yr + £140–£420 / month
ARLA / Propertymark / RICS supplier-of-choice membership
£900–£3,400 / yr
CRM (HubSpot) + analytics (Mixpanel)
£140–£820 / month
Accounting (Xero) + payroll (Pento)
£40 + £8/employee / month
Where to set up
Location is half the business.
Enterprise landlord + agency density
Within 30 min of Mayfair / Soho / City + outer-London branches
Demo cadence + senior-relationship building benefit from in-person meetings.
BTR + housing-association cluster
Within 1 hr of Stratford / Wembley / Croydon major BTR sites
BTR ops teams expect on-site rollout support.
Proptech-VC density
EC1 / EC2 / E1 / Mayfair
UK proptech-active VCs (Pi Labs / Round Hill / A/O / Concrete) cluster here.
Office presence (AML + ICO)
Registered UK office
HMRC AML supervision + ICO registration require a UK address.
Area tier
Rent / month
Notes
Mayfair / Soho (W1)
£540–£1,200 / desk
Best for premium-agency + investor proximity; pricey.
Shoreditch / Old Street (EC1, EC2)
£380–£820 / desk
Best tech-talent catchment; strong proptech-VC cluster.
Stratford / Plexal (E20)
£300–£640 / desk
Closest to major BTR pipelines; lower cost.
Licences & registrations
Get the paperwork done before you sign a lease.
UK figures for 2026. Lead times assume you submit complete applications — councils will pause the clock if you miss documents.
Requirement
Who issues
Cost
Lead time
ReqCompanies House Ltd + EMI + IP assignment
Companies House + solicitor
£600–£3,400
1–2 weeks
ReqICO + DPO + DPIA (tenant + landlord data)
ICO + DPO
£60 + £140–£420 / month
1–3 weeks
ReqHMRC AML supervision (if handling client funds)
HMRC
£300 / yr + AML system
4–8 weeks
OptPropertymark / ARLA / RICS supplier-of-choice
Propertymark / ARLA / RICS
£900–£3,400 / yr
4–8 weeks
ReqISO 27001 + Cyber Essentials Plus
Cert body
£12,000–£32,000 / yr
6–12 months
OptTrueLayer / Plaid OB partnership (if Open Banking)
FCA-authorised OB provider
Per-call fees
2–6 weeks
OptTenant-referencing + insurance partnership (Goodlord / HomeLet / Canopy)
Provider
Per-tenant fee or rev-share
2–6 weeks
Build-out timeline
From decision to open in 12 weeks.
01
Months 1–3 · Incorporate + buyer-fit
1–12- Topco + EMI + IP assignment + Vanta live
- Lock buyer segment (agent / BTR / RP / landlord SaaS / FM)
- Scope dominant-CRM integration (Reapit / Alto / Jupix / Yardi)
- AML + ICO + DPIA registration if handling client funds
02
Months 4–9 · MVP + first paid pilots
13–36- Ship MVP in 2–4 design-partner branches / 1 BTR site
- ISO 27001 + Cyber Essentials Plus stage 1
- Land Propertymark / ARLA supplier-of-choice or RICS membership
- Close first 6–10 paying branches (£140–£300/branch/month)
03
Months 10–18 · First enterprise account
37–72- Achieve ISO 27001 + Cyber Essentials Plus
- Sign first enterprise landlord / BTR contract (£40k–£140k ACV)
- Hit £200k–£700k ARR with 88%+ renewal
- Open seed extension or Series A round
04
Months 19–30 · Scale enterprise
73–120- Grow to 6–20 enterprise contracts; £700k–£2m ARR
- Land first RP (housing association) contract
- Annual ISO surveillance + AML refresh
- Series A close + EU / Middle-East expansion optional
Budget
Realistic startup and monthly cost ranges.
One-off · Startup
Setting up the shop
Legal + topco + EMI + IP + AML setup
£7,400 → £20,000
ISO 27001 + Cyber Essentials Plus (yr 1)
£14,000 → £32,000
Dominant-CRM integration toolkits (3 CRMs)
£8,400 → £32,000
Initial team kit (8 FTE)
£14,400 → £28,000
Office deposit + first 6 months desks
£10,000 → £32,000
Propertymark / ARLA / RICS + Trustpilot launch
£2,400 → £8,400
Typical total
£56,600 – £152,400
Recurring · Monthly
Keeping the lights on
Co-working (8 desks)
£3,000 → £8,400
Cloud + integration + payments
£1,400 → £8,400
Compliance + AML system + fractional DPO
£1,400 → £4,800
Salaries (8 FTE blended £62k)
£36,000 → £54,000
GTM + branch sales + content + events
£2,400 → £10,800
Travel + agency / BTR site visits
£600 → £3,400
Typical total
£44,800 – £89,800
Numbers that compound
How a proptech actually looks on a chart.
Illustrative planning ranges, not measured customer data. Toggle the views to see ramp, mix and weekly load.
12-month revenue ramp
Low vs high scenario (£ monthly)
High Low
Illustrative example for planning, not measured customer data.
First 90 days
Dates that actually matter after opening.
01Day 0
Topco incorporated; AML + ICO + Vanta live
02Day 30
Buyer segment locked; CRM integration scoped
03Day 120
MVP live in 2 design-partner branches
04Day 240
Propertymark / ARLA supplier; 8 paying branches
05Day 360
ISO 27001 + Cyber Essentials Plus; first enterprise contract (£40k–£80k)
06Day 540
5+ enterprise customers; £500k+ ARR; Series A data room ready
What's inside
DNA, route, automations, integrations, benchmarks, advisors — tuned for a proptech.
02Move
Suggested route
Pick a buyer (lettings agent / build-to-rent operator / RP / landlord SaaS / FM), align to ICO + AML + EPC + MEES + Renters Reform 2026 from day one, integrate the dominant CRMs (Reapit / Alto / Jupix / Yardi / MRI) and target enterprise within 18 months.
03Move
Automations
Daily managed-unit + arrears digest, AML refresh on landlord + tenant onboarding, weekly investor update with renewal cohorts, EPC / MEES policy-change tracker, ICO DPIA refresh, Renters Reform readiness checklist.
04Move
Integrations
Reapit / Alto / Jupix / Yardi / MRI / Qube CRMs, Open Banking (TrueLayer / Plaid), referencing (Goodlord / HomeLet / Canopy), payments (Stripe + GoCardless), HubSpot, Mixpanel, Vanta, Trustpilot.
05Move
Benchmarks
ARR per managed unit / branch, time to first enterprise landlord and renewal cohort retention vs UK Seed–Series A proptech in same buyer-segment band, refreshed quarterly.
06Move
Advisors
Encore advisors who have built ARLA / RICS-friendly products + landed enterprise lettings / BTR / RP contracts, plus NAVIZIX AI for runway + Renters Reform-driven demand projection.
Stack
Modules used in this playbook.
01DNA Engine02Route Map03Launch Twin04Automation05Verified06Encore
Related playbooks
Owners of a proptech often run — or cross-sell with — these adjacent operations.
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