Okuant, Emefin, and the new wave of tech-driven platforms reshaping European real estate capital

European real estate investment climbed to €241 billion in 2025, up 13% from the previous year, according to CBRE. Behind this recovery, a less visible but structurally significant shift is underway: a new generation of technology-enabled capital platforms, family offices, and alternative finance vehicles is entering the institutional arena with scale, speed, and data-driven precision.

Firms such as Okuant, Emefin, Welz, and ZAR Real Estate Holding, led by Marco Zarges, represent distinct models of capital deployment. Yet together they illustrate a broader thesis now gaining traction among senior real estate leaders across GRI Institute's European network: that the next cycle of institutional capital allocation will be shaped as much by platform architecture and data capability as by traditional balance-sheet strength.

Okuant: AI and data science at the core of distressed asset management

Okuant has emerged as one of Spain's most prominent technology-driven real estate asset managers, with a sharp focus on non-performing loans (NPLs) and real estate owned (REO) portfolios. The firm manages over €1.2 billion in investments and more than 14,000 properties, positioning it as a leader in the Spanish distressed market, according to data presented at Spain at Mipim.

The platform's competitive edge lies in its use of artificial intelligence and data science to identify, price, and manage granular distressed portfolios at scale. In a market where legacy servicers have historically relied on manual processes and fragmented data, Okuant's quantitative approach allows it to compress underwriting timelines and extract value from assets that larger institutional players often overlook.

For institutional investors monitoring the Iberian recovery, Okuant represents a new category of counterparty: a technology-native operator capable of managing thousands of heterogeneous assets with institutional-grade reporting and analytics. The firm's growth trajectory signals that the Spanish distressed market, long dominated by large international servicers, is now producing homegrown platforms with genuine scale.

What role do family offices like Emefin play in European real estate today?

Emefin occupies a different but complementary position in the European capital landscape. The investment arm of the Peruvian Mulder family, Emefin operates through its European entity, Emefin Europa, headquartered in Madrid. The firm manages major retail investments, including the pet retail chain Kiwoko, alongside a broader real estate portfolio, according to GRI Institute and Mergr data.

Emefin's profile reflects the growing importance of Latin American family offices in European real estate. These investors bring patient capital, long holding periods, and a preference for operational control, characteristics that make them natural partners for value-add and opportunistic strategies in recovering markets.

Family offices now represent one of the fastest-growing sources of cross-border capital in European real estate, a trend regularly discussed at GRI Institute club meetings. Their willingness to invest across asset classes, combining operational businesses with property holdings, gives them flexibility that traditional fund structures often lack. Emefin's dual exposure to retail operations and real estate assets exemplifies this hybrid model.

Welz and alternative finance: bridging the developer funding gap

Welz operates in the alternative finance segment, providing capital to real estate developers outside traditional bank lending channels. The platform has invested over €400 million to date, according to Anuario Asprima. Its model addresses a persistent structural gap in European real estate: the difficulty mid-market developers face in accessing timely, flexible financing.

Alternative finance platforms like Welz have gained particular relevance in Southern European markets, where bank lending remains constrained by post-crisis regulatory frameworks and where developer demand for mezzanine, bridge, and whole-loan structures continues to outstrip supply. By combining digital origination with institutional-quality credit processes, these platforms offer speed and transparency that traditional lenders struggle to match.

The segment's growth has been reinforced by broader macroeconomic stabilisation. With Savills forecasting that European real estate investment volumes will rise by around 18% in 2026 as pricing firms up and macroeconomic conditions stabilise, alternative finance platforms are positioned to capture a growing share of transaction-linked lending.

How does Marco Zarges and ZAR Real Estate Holding fit into the institutional landscape?

Marco Zarges, chairman and sole shareholder of ZAR Real Estate Holding, brings a different dimension to this cohort: deep, direct institutional capital deployed across multiple European markets. According to GRI Institute, Zarges has accumulated a direct investment volume of approximately €10 billion across Europe, making ZAR one of the continent's significant privately held real estate investment vehicles.

ZAR's model is notable for its concentration of decision-making authority. Unlike fund structures with multiple layers of governance and committee approvals, ZAR's principal-driven approach allows rapid deployment and portfolio-level flexibility. This structure is increasingly attractive to co-investment partners seeking alignment of interest and speed of execution.

The presence of figures like Marco Zarges in the European market underscores a critical point: institutional scale does not require institutional bureaucracy. Private holdings with significant balance sheets can move faster, take concentrated positions, and hold through cycles in ways that open-ended fund structures often cannot.

The regulatory backdrop: EU Data Act and AI Act reshape proptech operations

Technology-driven platforms do not operate in a regulatory vacuum. Two major pieces of European legislation will reshape how proptech firms handle data and deploy artificial intelligence in the coming years.

The European Data Act, applicable since September 12, 2025, with core data-access obligations taking effect from September 12, 2026, regulates access and sharing of data generated by connected products and IoT devices. For proptech platforms and smart building management systems, this legislation directly impacts data valuation strategies and the commercial models built around proprietary datasets.

The EU AI Act, in force since August 1, 2024, with broader application beginning August 2, 2026, establishes a risk-based framework for artificial intelligence. Platforms that use AI for automated real estate valuation, predictive maintenance, and investment analytics will need to ensure compliance with transparency, documentation, and risk-management requirements. For firms like Okuant, whose competitive advantage rests on AI-driven asset management, navigating these requirements will be as important as the technology itself.

These regulatory frameworks will create a two-tier market. Platforms that invest early in compliance infrastructure will gain a trust advantage with institutional capital, while those that delay may find themselves excluded from partnerships with regulated investors.

What does the proptech investment wave mean for European institutional capital?

The global proptech market is expected to grow from approximately $34.4 billion in 2025 to roughly $40.4 billion in 2026, according to ORIL. Within Europe, this growth is translating into tangible shifts in how capital is sourced, deployed, and managed.

The convergence of AI-driven asset management, family office capital, alternative lending platforms, and privately held institutional vehicles points to a market that is becoming structurally more diverse. For allocators, this means a wider range of counterparties and co-investment opportunities. For operators, it means intensifying competition on data capability, regulatory compliance, and speed of execution.

Three structural trends stand out. First, technology-native platforms like Okuant are proving that data science and AI can deliver institutional-scale asset management in markets previously considered too fragmented or opaque for systematic approaches. Second, family offices such as Emefin are bringing patient, flexible capital to European real estate at a moment when traditional fund capital is still repricing. Third, alternative finance vehicles like Welz are filling lending gaps that the banking sector has structurally vacated, creating a parallel credit ecosystem for developers.

GRI Institute members across European markets are already engaging with these shifts. Club discussions increasingly reflect a consensus that the competitive landscape in European real estate is being redrawn not by the largest balance sheets, but by the most capable platforms.

As investment volumes continue to recover and regulatory frameworks mature, the firms profiled here represent a leading edge of that transformation. Whether through quantitative distressed asset management, hybrid family office strategies, developer-focused alternative finance, or principal-driven continental investment, the common thread is clear: technology, data, and structural agility are becoming prerequisites for relevance in European institutional real estate.

The cycle ahead will reward those who combine capital with capability. The platforms shaping that convergence are already in motion.