It is not every day that the people behind a software company start acquiring the kind of businesses they used to sell software to.
The people behind Proper are launching Rumli, a new property manager that will acquire management companies and move their operations onto its own software. The first acquisition is Hegnsholt Ejendomsadministration.
Rumli enters an industry where many smaller management companies carry out the same tasks using cumbersome processes and systems that do not always communicate. The plan is to bring the work together on Rumli’s own software and use AI to remove more of the manual work in daily operations.
At Hegnsholt, the model is already in use. In a few months, the company has significantly increased its contribution margin and the number of units per property manager.
“We have spent nine years building software for property management,” says Morten Krarup, co-founder of Rumli. “Now we are using that experience to manage properties ourselves. We are not buying companies to run them as before, but to move the work to a new operating model.”
Acquiring the companies they used to sell to
The usual software model is to sell a system to an industry and hope customers change their workflows. Rumli is taking a different approach.
Rumli acquires management companies and moves the work onto its own software. This is a roll-up approach: acquiring established companies and running them on a shared platform.
“AI changed our ambition. We could see that the technology could do more than make other property managers more efficient. It could also allow us to manage properties differently ourselves. That is why we started Rumli,” says Jacob Funch, co-founder of Rumli.
AI will take on more of the manual groundwork in particular. Property managers still make the decisions and stay in contact with owners and tenants.
Hegnsholt is the first acquisition
Hegnsholt Ejendomsadministration is Rumli’s first acquisition. It is also the first place where Rumli can demonstrate the model in practice.
In a few months, Hegnsholt has increased its contribution margin to around 35%. A property manager who previously handled around 750 units can now handle more than 1,700. That is more than twice as many.
For Rumli, efficiency matters only if owners experience it through a clearer overview and lower costs, and tenants through faster responses and better service.
“When manual routines take up less time, we have more time for owners, tenants and the cases that need experience. That is where you notice the quality,” says Jesper Schimming of Hegnsholt Ejendomsadministration.
Why now?
Property management is a large, fragmented industry. In Denmark alone, more than 1,800 companies manage 1.16 million units.
Many of these companies carry out the same tasks using manual processes. At the same time, owners and tenants expect faster answers, a clearer overview and more digital services.
What has changed is that AI has become useful in complex workflows where information needs to be read, compared and followed up. That makes the acquisition strategy possible in a way it was not a few years ago.
The trend is already visible in Europe. In Germany, Buena has raised DKK 375 million since 2023, acquired more than 20 management companies and brought them together on an AI-powered platform. In the UK, Dwelly has raised DKK 600 million to acquire management companies and move them onto an AI-powered operating model.
What happens to Proper?
The Proper platform continues for existing software customers. The same team continues to work on the product, support and development. Customers keep using the product they know for management, rent collection and reminders.
Rumli is a new business from the people behind Proper. Here, the team manages properties itself and acquires management companies.
Hegnsholt is the first acquisition and has already moved to the new operating model. Further acquisitions are next. The aim is to give owners a clearer overview and lower costs, while tenants receive faster answers.
About Rumli
Rumli is a property manager started by the people behind Proper. Rumli combines nine years of its own software development with experienced property managers and handles rent collection, tenant communication, maintenance, legal compliance and portfolio reporting, among other tasks. The company acquires established management companies and moves their work onto its own software to make management more efficient for owners, tenants and property managers.