Nimbus, a proptech company built to provide property professionals with detailed, up-to-date information collected from thousands of sources in one place, was born in 2015 to Paul and Simon Davis — two Oxbridge engineers. 

The pair originally went to work on their family property portfolio after university, and began using data and technology to present different properties and developments to investors tailored to their requirements. 

Property professionals then became interested in the technology the pair were using to allow the industry to quickly find opportunities and connect with owners to land the best property deals — which led to Paul and Simon’s first license sale in 2015. 

Nimbus now has thousands of licenses at any one time, and it is safe to say the sector has changed significantly in the last nine years. 

Paul said: “I think in 2015 there were very few proptech companies and as we were committing to the new business, we weren’t sure if what we were doing was really a thing. 

“We went out and played golf with one of our surveyor contacts, and he was like ‘boys, this isn't the way it's done — we don't do it this way’.

“Back then, the word data was kind of a dirty word, I think.

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“People now realise that that proptech is a really useful thing, and they're sort of getting their head around kind of what it does and why it's helpful.”

Paul commented on some of the new updates that Nimbus has undergone recently to keep up with the world of proptech. 

“We now have some quite interesting stuff around footfall,” said Paul. 

“Where before we would just tell you about the building itself, we're now talking about the people driving past it and its traffic. 

“That’s been quite a big change for sort of a few different use cases,” he concluded, highlighting the importance of footfall for properties comprising EV charging, hotels, commercial uses, and fast food. 

We also discussed how the changing and rather tumultuous economy — from the financial crash of 2008 to Covid-19 — impacted Nimbus and the development sector. 

Paul agreed that the high street is on an interesting journey, as where previously there were big brands in prime space, this has been flipped on its back since Covid-19. 

“The rise of the independent retailer is becoming quite important, particularly in the secondary parts of town, as they are doing very well,” Paul commented. 

With all this change in the sector, we then went on to discuss the future of proptech — is there a possibility that we could see a future where planning permission, for example, could be completed by data and computers alone? 

“There is a world where you could see that happening, but I think we're a long way off that, frankly.

“The marketplace is quite opaque.

“There's got to be practical challenges and kind of commercial problems that are resolved along the way in order for tech companies like us to go and invest in that sort of stuff, to make it a reality.”