UK proptech startup Tract raises funding to address housing problem through AI: Here’s how

London-based Tract, a proptech startup specialised in sourcing potential building sites and acquiring planning permissions through AI, announced that it has secured undisclosed investment co-led by Ada Ventures and Concept Ventures.

The company will use the funds to develop the technology to generate surveys, reports, and other planning documentation.

The UK company plans to build one million homes in ten years.

Tract: Addressing housing problem through AI

Founded by Jamie Rumbelow and Henry Dashwood, Tract is on a mission to use technology to address the housing problem and create a positive societal impact.

“We believe that housing is the largest domestic political problem the United Kingdom faces and that the planning system is the biggest barrier to solving it,” says the company.

The company’s sophisticated planning engine simplifies the complex process of obtaining planning permissions and has the potential to unlock a completely unserved market of smaller land parcels.

Tract’s planning engine is capable of identifying sites with favourable planning characteristics and determining the type of development that can be carried out on a site, along with the necessary documentation.

By digitising and organising extensive local planning data, the software can assess planning risk by analysing past applications and predicting likely outcomes.

According to the company’s claims, its technology has the potential to revolutionise the real estate industry by addressing complex and unpredictable permission processes for smaller land parcels.

Similarly, it could free up land owned by large institutional landowners for productive use. It could also maximise the potential value of the land. A planning permission raises the median value of agricultural land from £20k/ha to £2.4m/ha.

The company’s software helps understand the value of land, and the planning constraints that might affect its viability.

Tract will identify the most viable land, promote it on behalf of landowners, get planning permission for homes, and sell the land to people who want to build houses, taking a percentage of the increase in value.

According to the company, Tract believes there are around 200,000 sites suitable for building in the UK that could benefit from the software.