The Spanish company will compete with projects from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom for the European award. 

Madrid, 21 July 2023 – Urban Land Institute (ULI), a non-profit institute that aims to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide, held the final of the ULI PropTech Innovation Challenge 2023 event in Spain on 30 June. The finalists of the competition presented their innovative business ideas focused on the decarbonization of the sector and Net Zero objectives. The jury selected EFFIC as the winning business idea, which will represent the Iberian Peninsula in the European final competition. EFFIC will compete against other finalists from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom in Copenhagen on 11 October. 

Five previously selected startups were presented: ORYGEN, EFFIC, Wilgo, Solum, and Rento Homes, who pitched to the jury with five proposals that seek to provide solutions to some of the challenges facing the real estate sector in Europe. 

EFFIC, the winner of the Iberian phase, acts as the business unit through which Anticipa Real Estate and Aliseda Inmobiliaria work as refurbishment agent with the support of the Next Generation funds. It is the leading firm in the management of energy efficiency improvement projects in homes and residential buildings in Spain. Its work covers the entire refurbishment process: preparing the energy study of the properties, facilitating the financing of the unsubsidised part of the works, carrying out the refurbishment, and leading the entire process of processing the subsidies derived from these European funds. 

EFFIC is the result of the experience gained from more than 50,000 home refurbishments in more than 3,000 municipalities carried out by Anticipa and Aliseda, leading real estate asset and loan management companies. Together, they manage 100,000 real estate assets and loans worth 18 billion euros. Anticipa is 100% owned by investment funds managed by Blackstone, and Aliseda is 51% owned by investment funds managed by Blackstone and 49% by Banco Santander. Their work is backed by a team with a solid track record, with a focus on efficiency and digitisation. This experience has enabled them to provide their services to other large companies with large real estate portfolios since 2022. These include Sareb, for which Aliseda and Anticipa jointly manage its portfolio of assets and loans.

Bárbara Recio Pelayo, executive director of ULI Spain, said: “The Innovation Challenge 2023 is part of ULI Europe’s effort to raise the profile of best practices in innovation and to recognise companies’ efforts to respond to the main challenges facing the sector”. Recio also added that “the standard of all the projects presented in the Iberian phase is very high and it is very encouraging to see that our industry is at the forefront in terms of innovation and capabilities to address the challenges facing real estate across Europe”. 

In addition to the executive director, Bárbara Recio and ULI Spain Chair, Alberto Valls, the jury was made up of other industry leaders such as Francisco Rocha Antunes, David Bros, Gonzalo R. Chávarri, Gustavo López Pecho, David Hueso Gutiérrez, Pablo Villarejo, André Casaca, Pablo Alonso-Patallo de la Torre, Carlos Olmos de Frutos and Elena Ruiz Requena. 

About Urban Land Institute 

Urban Land Institute (ULI) is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members, comprising more than 45,000 real estate and urban development professionals. The Urban Land Institute was established in the USA in 1936. Its mission is “to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide”. ULI’s commitments include: 

CONNECT a wide diversity of active and committed partners through the largest global network of multidisciplinary professionals. 

INSPIRE best practices for equitable and sustainable land use through content exchange, training, meetings, mentoring and knowledge sharing. 

LEAD in addressing community and real estate challenges through the application of collective global expertise and philanthropic engagement. 

ULI has almost 5,000 members in Europe across 15 National Council country networks. For more information, visit europe.uli.org, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. 

For more information, please contact Gerardo López /Angela García Baiges 628 591 996 

[email protected]