In December 2023, London Law Collective advised proptech company LandTech on the strategic acquisition of Built-ID, the innovators behind the revolutionary community engagement platform, Give My View.
LLC caught up with LandTech CEO Jonny Britton to find out more about this pivotal move and how LandTech is planning for the future.
We started by asking Jonny to tell us a little about how LandTech started and where he feels the business is today.
Like many ideas, LandTech started from personal experience. 12-15 years ago, my co-founder was working as a software engineer in London and was struggling to buy a property. He was keen on self-build, but soon found that it was almost impossible to navigate the complexities of land purchase, and couldn’t even find out what the potential was for a plot of land.
It was from that insight that LandTech was born. Together with my co-founder, our aim was to create a business that would make all the data around land purchase easy to access and useful. Initially targeted at self-builders, the business soon moved into supporting SME developers and then enterprise customers.
I can now safely say that LandTech is leading the category it created. We have around 2,000 customers who are using our data to help them with their developments, and we have extended our offer globally, as we realise that our data and innovative solutions can help solve a wider international issue of property data aggregation.
So, what changes and innovations are you seeing in the sector that are driving LandTech forward?
Some of the macro-economic changes we are seeing are tumultuous. Interest rates are impacting the sector badly. In the last couple of years, we have seen the a loosening of planning regulations and legislation by governments which means that there are an increasing number of development opportunities.
We are also noticing a greater focus on sustainability and the environment, and of course we can’t forget the impact that AI is having on the sector. And as the tech behind AI develops, the data that we aggregate will soon be able to be used for solutions we’ve not already thought of, which to me is very exciting.
But, as the market leader in the sector we have a responsibility to think carefully about how we react to these changes and innovations so that we can capitalise on these trends and continue to shape the future of property development.
You recently acquired Built-ID in December 2023. What was the thinking behind the acquisition?
We have known for a while that critical to getting developments approved by planning is thorough community consultation, and we want to work closely with our clients to help them get their projects through the door. This is a global trend, so in many ways it made sense for us to acquire Built-ID which developed the brilliant community consultation platform, Give My View.
For LandTech data is key, and making the data from Built-ID and Give My View accessible to our customer base will mean that our overall offer is more powerful. It will also mean that developers will have the chance to see, at-a-glance, the potential of their local development by looking at things like local plans and community responses to developments, providing a rounded picture of a development’s potential.
So, how was your experience of working with London Law Collective on the Built-ID acquisition? Would you recommend them to others?
It was great! The best thing I can say is that no problems came to me during the deal. I was really pleased with the final shape of the deal and more directly I heard very positive things about Lizzie and the team. So, yes, I’d highly recommend LLC.
What’s next for LandTech?
For us, expansion in the US is the big one. We also plan to continue rolling out additional services in the UK and hopefully will soon get to a stage whereby a customer can have a full end-to-end service through LandTech, from finding a piece of land to build on to getting it fully approved – that’s our ambition.
For more information about LandTech and their acquisition of Built-ID click here.
