Sector Snapshot: Proptech Funding Holds Up, But Investors Are Placing Different Bets

google — venture funding to proptech startups is nowhere near its peak and still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, as higher interest rates make real estate a tougher place to invest, leading to fewer deals and raising the bar for startups seeking capital. But startup investors haven’t abandoned the sector, either, Crunchbase data shows.

Instead, they’re being more selective about their bets and putting more money into companies using AI and other technology to make construction, property operations and real estate transactions faster and less expensive. That shift shows up in both the year’s largest funding rounds and biggest acquisitions — and, notably, much of the biggest funding activity is happening outside the U.S. The broad trend: Even before the pandemic-fueled funding peaks, proptech startups received more than double the venture funding in 2019 than in more recent years. While investors haven’t given up on proptech, funding to startups in the space remains down as interest rates hover in the 6% to 7% range. In case you forgot, during the COVID-19 pandemic, home buyers and owners had access to 15-year mortgage interest rates as low as 2.5%. Those historically low interest rates fueled investor interest in the space, especially in the U.S. Today, venture investors are backing startups working in areas such as AI-driven construction, property operations, underwriting and transaction infrastructure with demonstrable ROI. At the same time, more generic real estate software and later-stage companies without exceptional growth face significant funding challenges, our data shows. And interestingly, four of the five largest deals in 2026 to date took place outside the United States. The numbers: So far in 2026, global real estate-related startups have pulled in about $8.7 billion in seed- through growth-stage financing, per Crunchbase data. That compares to $24 billion in 2019, the second-highest year on record after the 2021 venture funding spike. It also compares to $12.3 billion raised in 2025. It appears that with four months left in the year, proptech funding is on pace to roughly match or slightly exceed 2025 levels. Deal count is also down fairly significantly, with 794 deals so far this year. For context, the space saw more than 2,400 deals in 2019.