EP113: Understanding how the PropTech industry is changing with real estate tech veteran Ben Lerner

“The Real Estate tech space as a whole, from an investment and ownership perspective, has been really resilient…there are various areas that have really boomed.”

My guest today is Ben Lerner, a real estate tech veteran with 20 years’ experience in the PropTech sector. 

Ben learned his trade in his (now 40-year-old) family business creating software for the real estate industry including property management solutions, high street agency solutions, and everything in-between.

He sold the business in 2017 to one of the largest companies in the sector, MRI Software, and has since set up his own M&A practice, Lerner Associates, focusing on growth equity funding, sourcing, brokering and managing deals.

The company provides tailored advisory services to buyers and sellers, investors and company owners, in the UK, US, Europe and Israel, in local and cross-border transactions.

We talk about different advances in technology and how they have changed the property industry over the years, as well as the huge value of data within the property market.  

“What data supports is the fact that the world has changed – it’s not just about space, how much of it I’ve got and the price per space but, even before we’ve built anything, I can use data and look at my plot of land and see who is interested in that land and develop accordingly.” 

We also talk about: 

•  Investment opportunities in the PropTech and FinTech market 

• Making PropTech more mainstream and reducing barriers to entry

• The use of tech to shape the commercial spaces of the future 

• PropTech and its effect on climate change

You can contact Ben via email at ben@lernerassociates.com and keep up to date with news from Lerner Associates on Twitter @LernerAssociate.