The start-up 'walter' is entering the market with an innovative solution to tackle challenges in property management. Current analyses, such as the industry barometer from the Association of German Property Managers (VDIV), indicate an overload for over 62 per cent of property management companies. This situation is exacerbated by factors such as a shortage of skilled workers, economic pressure, and fragmentation due to multiple disparate solutions. 'walter' was developed to address these bottlenecks by consolidating administrative and operational tasks into a central application.
The new AI-powered application supports property management firms by taking on various routine tasks. This includes answering telephone calls, processing tenant enquiries, and preparing utility and service charge statements. Additionally, the system keeps track of contracts and deadlines. The final review and approval of the results prepared by 'walter' always remain with the human manager. Christoph Wend-Erdel, Managing Director of walter, highlights that many management processes are currently manual or only partially digitised, which significantly influenced the development of this solution.
Formation and Market Launch
'walter' is the first start-up to emerge from The Bau Ventures' build-first approach. The Bau Ventures acts as an early-stage investor for start-ups and is a joint initiative of the planning and consulting firm Drees & Sommer. The consolidation of Drees & Sommer's start-up activities into The Bau Ventures was announced earlier this year. With 'walter', a business idea has been realised for the first time, from problem identification and conceptualisation to the founding of an independent start-up. Thomas Häusser, Partner at Drees & Sommer SE, emphasises that a sustainable transformation of the real estate market requires solutions that are effective quickly, provide lasting relief to the industry, and are scalable. He sees 'walter' as an example of how a marketable business model can emerge within a short period by addressing specific bottlenecks.
The development of 'walter' took place in close collaboration with experts from Drees & Sommer. The solution was tested early in the market and precisely aligned with the needs of the real estate industry. Unlike traditional administration software, 'walter' offers an AI employee that centrally consolidates information and independently manages entire processes, while maintaining ultimate human control. Drees & Sommer also supports the start-up with capital, industry knowledge, and access to projects and clients. Alexander Assimidis, Managing Director of walter, underlines that the solution aims to enable property management companies to expand their portfolio and focus on value-adding topics such as portfolio optimisation, without administrative effort increasing proportionally.
Functionality and Benefits
The application areas of 'walter' cover a broad spectrum of management tasks. These include telephony, document management, all tenant communication, property accounting, and the creation of service charge and utility statements. The coordination of service providers and property marketing are also integrated functions. In particular, time-consuming and recurring routine tasks, which typically tie up many resources, are efficiently processed by the AI employee.
- —In the event of a reported heating failure, walter records the request and assigns it to the correct property.
- —Relevant contacts are informed, and the system coordinates appointments with the responsible tradesperson.
- —All parties involved can view the current processing status and submit documents via web, mobile, and desktop applications.
- —This simplifies communication between tenants, tradespeople, and management.
The official market launch of 'walter' will take place during the German Property Managers' Day on 17 and 18 September in Berlin. The need for such a solution was confirmed through comprehensive market analyses and discussions with pilot customers, demonstrating the practical orientation of The Bau Ventures' build-first approach.
