• Romanian proptech Bright Spaces announced partnership with CEE’s leading real estate consultancy company iO Partners
• With focus on innovation, iO Partners makes a decisive update to its set of services
• Bright Spaces, in turn, dramatically increases its regional reach

This September, the famous Romanian real estate 3D visualization solution provider Bright Spaces announced yet another partnership. Following a string of international partnerships, this time the proptech teams up with iO Partners – CEE’s leading real estate consultancy company.

Bright Spaces in Recap

Started in 2019 by Bogdan Nicoară (a guest on one of ITKeyMedia’s podcasts) and his team, Bright Spaces originally specialized in 3D visualization of commercial real estate. This allowed landlords to offer their potential tenants comprehensive virtual tours in addition to regular ones. This proved particularly beneficial during the COVID pandemic as interaction and deals between landlords and tenants could happen without in-person meetings and unnecessary health risks.

‘Our advanced technology has demonstrated its capacity to significantly expedite the leasing process, with potential efficiency gains of up to 30%. Bright Spaces’ digital twin technology provides a single point of truth for all property specifications, streamlining communication and fostering commercial agreements. The proven results of our digital twins include not only faster leases, but also optimisation of marketing, architecture, and sales costs, as well as up to 10 times more digital visits compared to traditional viewing methods,’ Bright Spaces’ head of sales EU Catalin Dragutoiu reminds.

Since then, Bright Spaces expanded geographically – with subsidiary offices in London and Dubai and partnerships in even more countries – and vertical-wise, to the residential and industrial/logistics sectors. The company’s most recent destination for geographic expansion was Poland through partnership with Adventum Group.

What the Partnership Entails

iO Partners is a CEE-focused real estate services firm that offers expertise in areas such as leasing, investment, strategic advisory, and project design and build. The company helps clients with diverse real estate needs – from office and industrial leasing to land development and valuation services. With over 30 years of experience in the region, iO Partners is a JLL Preferred Partner.

A combination of global knowledge, deep local expertise, and uncompromising strive for innovation allows the company to leverage data for a smart, collaborative, and responsive service. The service portfolio is designed to include all and any workplace advisory services to help businesses of all sizes develop effective location strategies to end up with the right space to accommodate their needs.

‘At iO Partners, we make it our mission to continuously explore new perspectives to stay ahead of the game and deliver forward-thinking solutions to our clients. The integration of Bright Spaces’ 3D technology reinforces our commitment to staying at the forefront of the industry, ensuring we continue to set trends and offer the most innovative services available on the market,’ iO Partners’ head of project and development services Marius Muresan comments.

The collaboration marks iO Partners’ interest in Bright Spaces’ flagship product, Custom 3D Space Planning. By integrating it, the firm’s consultancy services will provide for a more engaging and personalized experience. The product complements iO Partners’ market expertise with a competitive edge of delivering immersive 3D virtual tours and realistic renderings. Clients will be able to visualize their future office spaces from multiple angles and better understand design possibilities and spatial dynamics.

Within iO Partner’s toolset, it is particularly beneficial for tenants looking to relocate or redesign their office spaces. Key features include scenario simulation, enabling users to compare different refurbishing options, and design customization at the furniture level, allowing for easy exploration of various design concepts. Stakeholders, in turn, can engage more effectively through guided virtual tours, enhancing their interaction with the space and facilitating the decision-making process.

‘As real estate continues to evolve alongside technology at a rapid pace, our clients are becoming more sophisticated, expecting more complex, tech-driven solutions. At iO Partners, we pride ourselves on meeting those expectations by delivering innovative, tailored services that address their unique needs. This partnership with Bright Spaces allows us to take that commitment to the next level, integrating cutting-edge 3D technology into our consultancy offerings. We’re excited to collaborate with them and look forward to providing our clients with a more immersive, interactive, and informed approach to space planning,’ iO Partners’ head of office advisory Maria Florea states.

The Purpose of the Partnership

Mr Dragutoiu is convinced that what sets Bright Spaces apart is its customer-centric approach and the profound understanding of the real estate processes and the request for flexibility in this uncertain market. Naturally, the company’s digital twin solution’s multitude of features caters to different parts of those processes and can easily shift the balance towards a positive decision.

‘We reached out to iO Partners Romania and presented the solution and its benefits. Overall it took roughly 4 months to finish the negotiation process and sign the contract,’ he recalls.

Bright Spaces’ focus and short-term target is to provide excellent 3D space plans to help iO Partners Romania achieve their goals. Based on success stories and case studies, the proptech company looks to expand its reach at a regional level through this collaboration.