We have recently updated the content of the May 2022 'Forest of Innovation' external contributor analysis report (Link) at this point, three years and six months later.
- PropTech Market: A Changed Landscape After About Four Years
- Investment Landscape: The Return of Mega-Deals and the Despair of the Rest
- Growth Company Analysis: What the Survivors Have in Common
- 2026 Trends: What's Changing
- Story Meets Valuation: What Investors Look For
- Future Tasks and Investment Strategy
1. The PropTech Market: A Changed Landscape After About Four Years
In May 2022, I attended an IR meeting for a proptech startup. The founder stated confidently, "Our MAU is 3 million. We can become a unicorn like Zigbang." That year, the proptech market was red-hot. Zigbang became a unicorn valued at 2.5 trillion won, while Bucketplace secured 230 billion won in funding and prepared for its IPO.
Annual investment totaled 486.2 billion won, with 82 startups receiving funding. Everyone believed "Real Estate Tech is the Next Big Thing."
Four years later, that startup is no more. Investment in 2023 evaporated by 80% year-on-year, totaling 94.3 billion won. In 2024, it barely reached 96.9 billion won. Bucketplace abandoned its IPO and changed its accounting standards again, while Zigbang has been running at a loss for four consecutive years. The "unicorn dream" is over.
However, investment amounts show signs of recovery, reaching 180.3 billion won by October 2025. Is this a recovery signal?
A closer look at the data reveals a completely different story. Zigbang (60 billion won) and Plan M (50 billion won) alone account for 61% of the total. While "selective capital supply" has resumed for large platforms, Series A and B startups remain in an ice age.
The remaining 18 companies shared an average of just 3.9 billion won each.
The proptech market has now clearly split. A few large platforms have survived, while the majority of startups struggle even to attract investment. There is no middle ground. So what separated the surviving companies from those that vanished?
What the Evolution of Market Classification Tells Us
The Korea PropTech Forum classifies PropTech into 15 categories. An interesting pattern emerges when categorized by operational duration.
41.2% of companies operating for over 10 years are Property Marketing Platforms, i.e., brokerage platforms like Zigbang and Dabang. These are the first generation.
However, new entrants over the past five years have clustered in tech-based B2B areas like Construction Solution/XR (22.8%) and Data & Valuation (18.5%).
Why? The answer is simple: Zigbang and Dabang already dominate the market.
The simple problem of resolving information asymmetry in property listings has already been solved. New entrants must tackle deeper, harder problems: VR spatial visualization, AI-powered automated valuation, smart building management. All are technology-intensive and B2B.
The global market follows a similar pattern. Market Research Future estimates the global proptech market will reach $41.4 billion (approximately 56 trillion won) by 2025, projecting an average annual growth rate of 16.3% through 2035. South Korea is expected to grow even faster, from $20.1 billion in 2025 to $45.2 billion by 2031.
But don't be fooled by the numbers. Global proptech generates revenue across diverse sectors like commercial real estate management, energy efficiency, and real estate finance. South Korea remains overly concentrated on residential brokerage platforms. This is both a growth potential and a risk.
2. Investment Landscape: The Return of Mega Deals and the Despair of the Rest
The Truth the Numbers Don't Tell
In 2022, 486.2 billion won was invested. The average investment size was 5.9 billion won. In 2023, 94.3 billion won was invested, averaging 3.1 billion won. In 2024, 96.9 billion won was invested, averaging 3.2 billion won. By October 2025, 180.3 billion won had been invested. Looking at the numbers alone, it appears to be recovering. But the temperature felt on the ground is different.
Late last year, I met with a PropTech CEO. He was preparing for Series B funding.
"Investors are asking completely different questions now. Two years ago, they only asked about MAU and GMV, but now it's CAC, LTV, Payback Period, Unit Economics... I thought I was interviewing for CFO." His concerns continued like this.
"Profitability is our goal for two years from now, but investors are asking when we'll turn a profit right now."
This is the reality of the investment market in 2026. According to CRETI's PropTech VC survey, 37.5% of investors cited "capital availability" as their biggest challenge. It's not that there's no money; it's that there's nowhere to put it. Investment criteria have fundamentally changed.
Let's look at Cooley data. The down round rate surged to 21% in Q2 2023 (0% in Q4 2021).
Pay-to-play clauses doubled (5.4% vs. 2.6%). Liquidation preferences of 1x or higher quadrupled, and the proportion of participation preferred shares tripled.
What does this mean?
Investors have turned defensive. It's the "if it fails, at least save my money" mentality.
The Bright and Dark Sides of the Main Players
- Zigbang: The Unicorn's Long Tunnel
Let's look at Zigbang's 2024 performance. Revenue: 101.4 billion won. Operating loss: 28.7 billion won. That's four consecutive years of losses. At least the loss margin shrank by 30% from the previous year's 40.8 billion won, and it recorded a 300 million won profit in Q1 2025. A turnaround signal? Well...
The problem is that this 'improvement' came from cost reductions, not sales growth. Sales in 2024 decreased by 21.8% compared to the previous year's 129.7 billion won. The slump in real estate transactions dealt a direct blow. While reducing losses through workforce cuts and marketing expense reductions, growth has stalled.
Zikbang's acquisition of Samsung SDS's Home IoT division in 2024 is a gamble. Applying a monthly subscription fee of 2,000 won to approximately 90,000 households could generate an additional 2.2 billion won in annual revenue. However, considering the acquisition cost and operating expenses, its contribution to profitability remains uncertain.
On the other hand, Zigbang's strategic direction is understandable. It aims to expand from a brokerage platform into a 'residential living platform'.
The vision is to connect everything from home IoT, interior design, moving services, to cleaning. But will investors truly buy into this story?
Zigbang's enterprise value of 2.5 trillion won equates to a PSR (Price-to-Sales Ratio) of 25 times. A 25x multiple is excessive for a company that has posted losses for four consecutive years.
Frankly, maintaining the 2025 BW investment valuation seems to reflect existing investors' desire to protect their nominal value.
- Bucketplace: The Meaning of Profitability
In 2024, Bucketplace achieved an operating profit of 570 million won. This marks its first profit since founding. Revenue reached 287.9 billion won (a 22.3% year-over-year increase), with net income surging 127.4% to 5.26 billion won. This represents the most significant achievement in the proptech industry.
Bucketplace's secret lies in revenue diversification. Its streams include commerce (furniture and interior products), construction brokerage (surpassing KRW 1 trillion in cumulative transactions), advertising, and its private brand 'layer' launched in November 2024. Notably, the introduction of its 'Construction Responsibility Guarantee' system doubled construction transaction volume, proving the potential of its O2O model.
What's interesting is that Bucketplace reverted its 2024 accounting standards from K-IFRS back to K-GAAP. It had adopted K-IFRS in preparation for its 2023 IPO, but when its RCPS (redeemable convertible preferred shares) were recognized as debt, it fell into a state of 'complete capital impairment' with total capital of -794.6 billion won. Rumors circulated in the market asking, "Isn't it going under?"
In 2024, reverting to K-GAAP, it recognized RCPS as capital, reversing total capital to KRW 224.3 billion.
This signals a delay of at least two years for the IPO (listed companies must use K-IFRS under the External Audit Act).
Bucketplace has adopted the strategy of 'rather than rushing an IPO, we'll build up more performance and go public when market conditions improve'. This is judged to be a wise choice.
- Al Square: Sales are increasing, but so are losses.
Real estate information platform Al Square recorded its highest-ever revenue of 198.1 billion won in 2024. However, it posted operating losses for three consecutive years: 9.2 billion won in 2022, 23.7 billion won in 2023, and 14.4 billion won in 2024.
Revenue is growing, but profitability is not improving. This is the classic dilemma of platform companies.
3. Analysis of Growing Companies: What the Survivors Have in Common
- Bucketplace, Trustay, Buildblock, Samsam M2. What do they have in common?
- First, a clear revenue model
- Bucketplace: Commerce + Construction Brokerage + Advertising
- BuildBlock: Brokerage fees + Development profits + Management fees + EB-5 linked investments
- Each secured four or more revenue streams. Companies relying on a single revenue source take a direct hit from a real estate market downturn.
- Second, B2B or B2B2C model
- Trustay expands from apartment management (B2B) to resident communities (B2C)
- Bucketplace also started as a community (B2C) but entered the B2B2C space through construction brokerage.
- Pure B2C has clear limitations. With Zipbong and Dabang dominating the market, new entrants face near-impossible odds.
- Third, global scalability
- Bucketplace's expansion into Japan (¥400 million investment), Samsam M2's English version (10% of transaction volume overseas). The Korean market alone is insufficient to justify a unicorn valuation.
- Bucketplace's expansion into Japan (¥400 million investment), Samsam M2's English version (10% of transaction volume overseas). The Korean market alone is insufficient to justify a unicorn valuation.
- Fourth, Data and AI
- BigValue automates everything from commercial district analysis and risk analysis to business viability assessments using AI, going beyond mere data provision.
- ValueMap is preparing to launch its AI agent 'VDN' in 2026.
- These are companies that have built structures where their services are impossible without AI.
- First, a clear revenue model
4. 2026 Trends: What Will Change
The Full-Scale Implementation of AI Agents
2026 marks the 'AI transition period' for proptech. Beyond simple chatbots, autonomous agents are becoming standardized. When HVAC anomalies are detected, AI autonomously compares quotes from three companies, verifies insurance coverage, and schedules repairs.
The center of proptech competition has shifted from "data accumulation" to "AI utilization capability."
The accuracy race for AVM (Automated Valuation Modeling) is just the beginning. As AI increasingly intervenes in transactions, brokerage, and business viability assessments, companies lacking AI technology will be left behind.
ESG: From Cost to Revenue
Assets certified as smart buildings command 7-10% higher rents and sell at higher transaction multiples.
Enhanced regulations like the EU EPBD and the US Energy Act 2020 have made energy efficiency improvements mandatory.
Platforms like ProptechOS have demonstrated 36% electricity cost savings and NOI improvements of €5-15 per m².
M&A has become the mainstream exit strategy.
With the IPO market effectively closed from 2022 to 2024, M&A has emerged as the realistic exit route.
According to Pitchbook data, 66% of proptech exits are M&A (average exit value $111 million), while IPOs account for only 2%.
Global proptech unicorns show a similar pattern. WeWork filed for bankruptcy in 2023, and Industry Ventures data shows that over 80% of unicorns have declined in FMV compared to their 2021-2022 valuations. 30% have already fallen below $1 billion. Companies cannot rely solely on IPOs for their exit strategy.
5. Story Meets Valuation: What Investors Look For
One thing I've learned from working in investment strategy over the past five years is that "Investments don't come from stories alone. They must be backed by numbers."
Until 2021, investment cases frequently emerged based solely on stories centered around traffic or market potential.
"A KRW 10 trillion total addressable market," "3 million monthly active users," "KRW 100 billion gross merchandise value."
But in 2026, investors ask different questions.
"What's the CAC?", "What's the LTV?", "What's the payback period in months?", "When will you break even?"
Bucketplace achieved profitability in 2024 not because its MAU increased.
It was because the unit economics of construction brokerage and commerce worked. This is likely one of the stories investors want to hear these days.
6. Future Tasks and Investment Strategy
Challenge: Real Estate Market Downturn and Unicorn Valuation Realization
The Korean real estate market in 2026 is in a steady state. It's neither soaring nor crashing, just a tedious sideways movement.
The decline in transaction volume directly impacts PropTech companies' revenue.
Transaction-dependent business models (brokerage platforms, P2P investment) have reached their limits.
Is Zigbang's 2.5 trillion won valuation justified? A PSR of 25x is excessive for a company with 2024 revenue of 101.4 billion won and an operating loss of 28.7 billion won.
With global proptech unicorn valuations plummeting 80%, Korea cannot be the exception.
A down round in the next investment round is inevitable.
Investment Strategy: Where to Bet
- First, B2B SaaS over B2C platforms
- Entering the B2C market dominated by Zigbang and Dabang is reckless.
- Pay attention to B2B SaaS companies like BigValue (data) and Trustay (management).
- Contract-based revenue is predictable, and as long as the churn rate remains low, long-term profitability is assured.
- Second, companies achieving profitability or a clear path to profitability
- Look for companies that have already achieved profitability, like Bucketplace, or that have demonstrated turnaround potential with a profitable first quarter, like Zigbang.
- The narrative that "scaling up will eventually turn a profit" ended in 2021.
- Third, AI technological capabilities
- Companies like ValueMap and BigValue, which have adopted AI as their core engine, will maintain their competitive advantage.
- Companies that provide not just simple data but AI-based automated decision-making will command a premium.
- Fourth, global scalability
- The Korean market alone is insufficient to justify a unicorn valuation.
- We must identify business models with global expansion potential, such as Bucketplace's entry into Japan and Samsam M2's English version.
- Fifth, ESG and Energy Efficiency Solutions
- As stricter regulations and rental premiums converge, smart building and energy management solutions deliver a clear ROI.
- South Korea has also launched its regulatory sandbox. Under the 'Act on the Promotion of the Transition to a Circular Economy Society,' which took effect in January 2024, the demonstration of new technologies that enhance resource efficiency is accelerating. Preemptive investment should be considered.
In closing: Let go of illusions and face reality.
The 2022 proptech market was filled with illusions. Everyone dreamed of the "Next Unicorn."
Now, nearly four years later, the illusion has shattered. But this isn't the end.
Bucketplace achieved profitability, and Zigbang showed signs of a turnaround. B2B companies like BigValue and Trustay are steadily growing.
The proptech market is not dead. It is merely experiencing growing pains. Only companies and investors who abandon illusions and face reality can advance to the next stage. 2026 is anticipated to be the year of proptech's 'refinement'.
And I am watching this process unfold, anticipating the moment when I encounter companies that create real value.
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