Copenhagen-based PropTech Cortas lands €1.47 million in a pre-Seed round led by PSV Tech

Cortas, a Copenhagen-based PropTech startup, has raised €1.47 million in a pre-Seed round led by PSV Tech, a Nordic investor with Lunar, Helloflow and Spektr in its portfolio. JRNY Capital and a group of tech entrepreneurs also took part, including founders of the Danish fintech Flatpay and the EV-charging platform Spirii.

Cortas was founded by Christian Pind Schmidt (CEO) and Frederik Buchardt (COO), both alumni of Thylander Group, one of Denmark's major real estate investors. There they saw the fragmented systems and cumbersome workflows of property management. Rather than layering technology on existing solutions, Cortas holds that property management and the software behind it should come from the same company. It builds its own tools and uses them to manage clients' properties, which the founders argue will give owners and tenants a materially better experience.

Denmark is the launch market. The country's property management sector is estimated at €270 million to €400 million a year, and DEAS, Newest and CEJ together hold more than a third of it. The global market is valued at over €400 billion. PSV Tech's Christian Dalsgaard said Cortas won't be the only company trying to rethink the sector, but he believes the team can succeed because of its drive, execution and first-hand experience from the investor side, plus the network to serve large, demanding property investors from day one.

Cortas calls itself AI-native but rejects AI as a strategy in itself. The founders say they start from the question of how to deliver the best property management service, and the answer may be AI, conventional automation, better processes or skilled people. Automation is focused on administrative tasks so staff can concentrate on work needing judgment, specialist knowledge and relationships.

Since June, Cortas has built its operating model and software and signed its first property-investor customers. The new funding will go toward developing the platform, growing the team and positioning the company as a credible alternative to the established Danish players.