Property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz to put $100m into tech

Property mogul Vincent Tchenguiz today revealed plans to invest $100 million (£77 million) in “prop-tech” and alternative sectors away from conventional bricks and mortar.

The chairman of investor Consensus Business Group, which has a £3 billion UK property empire, is not looking to buy any more buildings this year amid fears of Brexit denting demand.

Instead he wants to back new prop-tech, insurance-tech and medical-tech firms.

Speaking to the Standard on his superyacht Da Vinci in Cannes for the Mipim property festival, Tchenguiz said: “The UK real estate market is fast-changing. I want to be at the forefront of when property meets tech. I predict big growth from companies that can speed up estate agency work using new digital techniques for surveying buildings, or firms that make drones to inspect property exteriors.“

Tchenguiz already invests in international startups that he wants to bring to Britain.

These include US and Israel-based Solview which calculates online the solar energy potential of rooftops, and Israel-based BladeRanger, which is developing robots and drones for cleaning skyscrapers.