Wouter Truffino
Founder and CEO at Holland ConTech & PropTech
Proptech investment and the pace of new companies launching has slowed considerably in the last year. That means that sector influencers — aka thought leaders — such as Wouter Truffino are becoming even more important in driving growth in their respective niches or regions.
For Truffino, that means his native Netherlands, which is one of Europe’s busier proptech hubs, and elsewhere on the continent. Through his 8-year-old Holland ConTech & PropTech, the serial entrepreneur organizes dozens of industry events annually that in turn might draw a couple of hundred companies, according to Truffino’s firm.
These events usually mix proptech startups and older companies with commercial real estate concerns hunting for technology to streamline or otherwise improve operations. It’s a deliberate setup, designed to broaden proptech’s reach and appeal in what can be a very conservative industry when it comes to risk.
“The biggest issue is getting real estate involved,” Truffino told Commercial Observer in 2022. “There are so many solutions out there, but one of the biggest issues is they really need to start working together. Collaboration is important when we talk about the value that technology is bringing to real estate. Having a good solution is not enough. We need to get real estate people to understand what we are doing with that technology, how we can make office life better, but also lower energy consumption.”
The gatherings have made Truffino one of the better-known industry names from outside of the United States. Manhattan-based venture capital firm MetaProp named Holland ConTech & PropTech “Best Association” in its 2019 global proptech awards. Truffino is a regular speaker at conferences beyond the ones he runs.
In early 2020, Truffino helped initiate the REBF Festival (as in Real Estate and Building Futureproof). The gathering focuses on technology in construction, and took place this past September. Truffino is also the founder of Global PropTech, a 5-year-old online platform for connecting proptech professionals.
