There are hundreds of startup accelerator programmes across the UK and Europe, but as a journalist, I’m only interested in those built and delivered by deep domain experts within specific industries.
ATechX is a growth program developed by the venture and innovation arm of Aroundtown, Europe’s third-largest listed real estate company.
Partnering with Vonovia (Europe’s largest residential real estate company), and built-world VCs noa, Fifth Wall, and Round Hill Capital, ATechX helps the real estate sector adopt technology in a systematic, scalable way — moving beyond one-off pilots towards long-term commercial deployment.
I spoke to Angie Mahtaney from ATechX to learn all about the programme.
The program targets early-stage startups that already have a product (or at least a minimum viable product) and are ready to scale their solutions within real estate, residential, commercial, and hospitality spaces across Europe.
Crucially, it aims to be a “testbed” environment, where startups gain access to real-world assets (via Aroundtown’s portfolio) to pilot or deploy their solutions.
"Real estate isn’t plug-and play"
According to Mahtaney, ATechX was developed in response to programs where startups get stuck in the piloting phase and fail to attract commercial customers.
She contends:
“It was clear that giving a startup a single pilot or one-off investment wasn’t moving the needle. Startups need alignment of systems, product validation, and business model clarity.
It’s rarely plug-and-play in real estate. The idea behind ATechX was to create a programme that deploys tech in a structured way — beyond pilots — where both sides think early about how the relationship can scale. That’s how you build win-wins.”
Further, compared with biotech or consumer tech, there’s no “hockey-stick' growth because sales cycles are long and risk tolerance is low. It’s a traditional industry, and that’s the biggest barrier.
However, once a solution is adopted, relationships tend to be extremely sticky — but getting there takes time. This means founders need to structure their business accordingly. "The lights have to stay on during long sales cycles," shared Mahtaney.
Take the example of data – GDPR and privacy requirements are very stringent. Early-stage startups often lack ISO certifications and security processes.
“So even with the appetite to adopt tech, it can’t happen overnight.”
Further, while there's an increased growth of material innovation from cement to construction-waste composites, these haven’t been tried for decades. The implications of failure are huge. So for the industry, the caution is logical.”
Why enterprise partners matter (especially with Europe’s old building stock)
In addition, many proptech startups struggle to gain early-stage commercial pilots (much less commercial traction) in Europe simply because of the number of people who rent rather than own apartments in old buildings that would desperately benefit from a retrofit or new tech.
For Mahtaney, that’s exactly why ATechX’s approach matters.
“We own the assets and we can create a real sandbox.”
In ATechX, startups work “side-by-side” with real estate, property, and hospitality providers who deploy or pilot-test in real assets. If they prove successful, they scale systematically, from one asset to ten assets, and from one country to multiple countries.
“Accelerators are great, but many don’t have the ability to commercialise at scale. By bringing in partners like Vonovia and Round Hill Capital, we can share learnings, give multi-perspective mentorship, and open our portfolios in a controlled-risk environment,” shared Mahtaney.
ROI, differentiation, and survival matter more than vision
Entry to ATechX is competitive. Firstly, ROI is non-negotiable. Mahtaney contends, “It sounds simple, but it’s not. You can have the biggest vision, but if you’re not delivering value to the tenant or to us, it won’t scale.”
The team also considers the viability of the business model and whether pricing aligns with ROI. Then there's the question of whether the company can fundraise and stick around — “Because the worst case is integrating a solution only for the startup to go insolvent six months later,” shared Mahtaney.
The programme is performance-based. After several months of collaboration with the ATechX team and asset experts, startups present to an investment committee comprising leadership from Aroundtown, Vonovia, and Round Hill.
Mahtaney stresses that the program is goes beyond the funding focus of others:
"We believe great founders will raise capital. The white space we’re solving is zero-to-one commercialisation. We want to give you business.
And we’re extremely transparent. If your business case doesn’t yet work, we’ll tell you — and help you fix it. If you want to strengthen the foundations of your company, this is a great place to do it.”
Part of this transparency is supporting companies to pivot. According to Mahtaney, the pivots from just two startup cohorts are "incredible."
“Startups present their updated business model, the traction they’ve achieved, and the plan for pilots or portfolio-wide deployment. At that point, partners may choose to invest. We’ve made several investments across both cohorts so far.”
Examples of successful startup pivots include:
- A robotics founder came in with a prototype focused in hospitality. ATechX placed her at one of their hotels to identify where robots could actually move the P&L. However, according to Mahtaney, “Serving dishes isn’t a big cost centre. Through on-the-ground observation, she pivoted towards higher-value operational tasks — and is now commercially engaging with several hotels.”
- Another startup working on ultra-efficient cooling discovered — through meetings with hotel GMs, construction teams, and energy experts — that their biggest opportunity was in a customer segment they hadn't originally considered. The program helped them re-target and re-align their product roadmap.
- MapMortar initially entered the program with an AI-first retrofit planning tool. They realised the biggest pain point wasn’t the modelling — it was usability. Existing tools require heavy training and fall apart when the trained staff member goes on holiday."
With this in mind, Mahtaney stresses, “Founders often think about big features, but sometimes the details differentiate you. If someone in our company can’t use your product instantly, they won’t. MapMortar figured that out by watching the tiny pain points we didn’t even articulate.”
Startups have until November 27 to apply for the latest accelerator program.
Lead image: Freepik.
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