A Chat with Bogdan Nicoara, CEO & Co-Founder at PropTech Company: Bright Spaces

Bright Spaces is a European Venture-Backed PropTech startup that offers a complete digital showcasing and leasing solution for commercial real estate worldwide.

Our mission is to give back time, improve processes in real estate through state-of-the-art technology, and strengthen our clients’ ESG policies.

We are doing all of these through a PropTech solution that allows future tenants to visualize and interact digitally with office space in 3D, discover its main tech specs, surroundings, main points of interest as well as request an offer or book a live tour.

When it comes to landlords, they benefit from an integrated, easy-to-use Admin Panel that provides data on closed deals, vacancy, potential customers and their specific requirements (desired parking spaces, storage etc.) and can generate a personalized HOT directly from the platform.

Of course, all of this translates into fewer printed materials and fewer business trips. Given the current health and safety regulations, we’re also helping our clients offer a safer, remote alternative to showcasing and leasing, while still growing their business.

We have signed clients from Romania and the UK and have recently raised our second round, of EUR 1.5 mil from Axeleo Capital, Pi Labs, Sparking Capital, Growceanu Angel Investments and a group of tech and real estate international angels.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
In the spring of 2019, we were still running our previous ventures, a digital agency and a software development agency. Because we had a wide experience in tech, we were encouraged to participate in Romania’s first PropTech Hackathon, organized by PropTech Romania. We won it with the idea behind Bright Spaces and quickly realized we were onto something big.

Most showcasing and leasing processes in real estate used to be done manually. This meant a lot of time and effort was being put into iterative tasks that didn’t nurture specialists’ creativity and professional growth. We saw there was room for improvement and built a platform that connects landlords, tenants and brokers and provides a more digitized and innovative experience.

Our idea soon got noticed by professionals in the market and by investors. In November 2019 we raised our first round and in 2020 we were one of the 5 companies accepted at the Pi Labs Accelerator (out of over 600 applicants.)
 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
The pandemic impacted everyone, including ourselves. At the same time, we are building a flat, agile organization and we managed to adapt and find new ways to develop Bright Spaces.

I can say we’ve had a good, stable journey until now. This is thanks to our team – which has tripled since May 2020, and to our clients – who share our vision and have innovation at the core of their activity, and to our partners, investors and mentors whom we value greatly.

Since May 2020, we’ve signed 8 clients from Romania and the UK, with a total of 14 properties and 5 million sq ft, increased our awareness and raised an additional 1.5 million EUR in our seed round. I would say that Bright Spaces managed to evolve successfully and furthermore, to have the need for its technology emphasized by the pandemic.

We also got extremely good feedback from our clients, as tenants who use the platforms get to live meetings more informed and are more prepared to sign a deal.
 

What can we hope to see from Bright Spaces in the future?

 
For now, we are looking to further develop the product and launch Bright Spaces on more European markets, with a specific focus on the UK. We’re also eyeing global expansion, but we’ll get back on this soon.

This implies new financing rounds and bringing new talent abroad, of course. I envision Bright Spaces as a company that grows sustainably, that sets the tone when it comes to technology in real estate and that has ESG values deeply embedded in its culture.