‍For our 10th deal with Axeleo Proptech 1, we set foot in the Netherlands! We are delighted to announce that AXC's Proptech fund is leading a €3Million seed round in the Amsterdam-based investment platform BRXS, alongside historical investor Picus Capital and expert business angels. 

‍BRXS seeks to close the wealth gap by enabling individual investors to invest in real estate easily (and digitally)

People often forget that the biggest asset class in the world is… Real estate. With $280 trillion of market size in 2020, brick and mortar far outweighs debt, equity, gold or crypto (combined!) in global asset value. And yet, both as a commodity and as an investment product, real estate remains structurally hard to access. Unlike crypto-currencies or trading stocks - which almost anyone can buy with an internet connection and a few euros, investing in real estate requires capital, technical expertise, and most of the time, professional guidance. As there is no open platform on which you can compare assets, it is almost unthinkable not to be helped by experts to spot good opportunities or avoid making mistakes… Which adds another cost. Although it is the largest and probably the most essential asset class, real estate is arguably the hardest to reach for the average investor - especially if they are under 35.

This is precisely the problem that BRXS, the newest addition to our proptech portfolio, is trying to solve. With its easy-to-use digital platform and strong consumer fintech DNA, it allows anyone (for now in the Netherlands) to invest at least €100 in carefully vetted real estate assets... And get a piece of the pie: a BRXS note holder can earn stable, low-risk interest on rental income, and benefit from potential appreciation in real estate asset value. 

An experienced and fast-paced team building the right product

We found in BRXS both the team and the product vision we were looking for. Having experienced the inequity of the real estate market, Amrita and Filip decided to launch BRXS in late 2021 after several years together at Uber. As former head of legal counsel for New Mobility in EMEA, Amrita brings in a strong legal background, and an ability to navigate through complex European regulations. Filip, on the other hand, has been GM Western Europe at UberEats for more than 3 years, building a solid ops background as well as expertise in B2C branding and product development. Their association appeared to us as the perfect match to take a consumer fintech to the next level. 

Democratizing real estate investment also requires the right product. Only a tool that’s seamless and intuitive enough will generate real customer appropriation, virality, and scaling of the user base. Through their background, Amrita and Filip understand this better than anyone, and the ease of use of their platform has been a top priority since the first line of code. This positioning has shown results in their early traction : the first properties commercialized on the platform (NL based, first German property soon to be released) sold in a matter of weeks, with 700+ investors and 5000+ registered users. 

From helping young people invest, to reinventing property

With the booming in personal finance and the democratization of real estate investing for younger generations, BRXS is perfectly positioned to capture a strong market momentum. Their value proposition can benefit new types of investors, like young workers, who cannot afford to buy real estate directly but want to start building wealth, and are gradually adopting new financial reflexes (diversify one’s portfolio, move across asset classes, explore other geographies… All of which you can do on BRXS). Next to Binance for crypto or Bitpanda for shares, we believe that BRXS can find its place in the financial tech-stack of European millennials. 

At the same time, BRXS is paving the way for a new model of ownership : Amrita and Filip, the founders, want to use their investment platform to engage tenants and local residents into the properties of their own neighborhoods… And democratize access to real estate in a more sustainable way. Increasing accessibility of properties and real estate investment is arguably one of the main challenges of proptech startups, and a core aspect of our investment thesis. We believe that there are several complementary ways to achieve this : co-owning assets (see for example our investment in Prello), phasing out access to ownership (see for instance Rent to Own models)... And that fractional investing has to play a role. 

BRXS' next milestones: Scaling supply and demand, and going beyond borders

With this €3M funding, BRXS will be able to expand its offering of properties available on the platform, to feed and grow its user base, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.

We are super excited to invest in BRXS alongside Picus Capital and expert Business angels from the European real estate scene. Congrats once again to Amrita, Filip, and their team : let’s take BRXS to the next level together! A special thanks as well to our great legal advisor Simone Rutgers from Steelman.io.