Changing the idea of property

Fraktion is a Belgian startup that uses data to drive change in the commercial real estate market. It is relying on tokenised ownership of assets—in effect dividing up the value of real estate or other properties into more affordable pieces—and making investments more affordable. This process also simplifies the journey of property acquisition, which is often complicated and cumbersome.

Digitisation is allowing new ways of approaching traditional markets, and many companies try ingenious solutions to lead the way. One such company, trailblazing its way to digital markets, is Fraktion, a Belgian startup dedicated to democratising real estate and other high-value properties.

It was created to allow the division of properties into fractions, or tokens, which can then be purchased by people who might otherwise not be able to make such an investment. This solution takes away the often complex process of acquiring property in the traditional way and spreads the risk over many owners.

The company wanted to ensure that its solution was sound and that it could deliver a licenced, safe and reliable platform to allow for the future of real estate to take shape. “We will be working with real-world assets and with people’s hard-earned money,” says Ben Peeters, Co-Founder and CEO of Fraktion. “So we had two options. We could do it in the basement and start coding it ourselves or we could go with an enterprise which has proven itself in the past. We chose the latter.”

To establish itself and achieve true market change, the company has found a real partner in Fujitsu. “We immediately had a great feeling about the partnership and a great vision together on how we can build this,” says Peeters. “We have the flexibility of the joint team to work together on the solution. But I think the main thing about Fujitsu is that we felt we gained a partner and not just a developer.”

The company relies on Fujitsu’s operational and advisory services regarding strategy, technology and business aspects of its journey including a collaborative design thinking approach, technical advice, risk assessment, modelling, use case validation and roadmap development.

It is also implementing Fujitsu Track and Trust, which uses blockchain technology. This is because Fraktion is working towards obtaining a financial crowdfunding licence and needs to ensure that everything that will be done through its platform is secure, logged, traceable and auditable. “That’s where we really rely on Fujitsu Track and Trust,” comments Peeters. “It’s the digital ledger.”

The Fraktion platform will allow people to invest in all types of property and either earn a fraction of the profits generated by it or reap benefits of its increased value at a later date. With the release of the platform fast approaching and its ground-breaking impact on the real estate and property market ensured, Fraktion is looking forward to further partnership with Fujitsu.

It’s hoping to rely on it not only for continuous work on this project, including maintenance, support and new features, but also for collaboration on several of its future products. “I see the collaboration going further. It’s really easy to talk with everyone at Fujitsu and they truly understand our situation, as well as the financial and operational aspects of it. It really creates a great foundation for us to work together.”