How three friends built one of Norway's fastest-growing proptech companies with significant help from DNB.
They started by building an app for football teams. Today, they provide technology to some of Norway's largest real estate companies.
"When we started, we actually knew very little about real estate," says one of Propely's founders.
Just a few years later, Kristoffer Moe Lundquist, Steinar Halvari Seim, and Ole Lassesen Ekern are in the driver's seat of what is considered one of Norway's fastest-growing proptech companies, with hundreds of clients and ambitions to become the market leader across the Nordics.
But the path there started far from boardrooms and big contracts.
Before Propely got its first customers, the three founders mostly sat in the basement coding. Sales were not a focus. Their Northern Norwegian chairman, with a background as a car salesman, had other ideas.
"He was very clear. 'What you need to do now is pick up the phone and call,' the founders recount."
"We weren't in that mindset at all. We preferred to sit and build the product."
The advice wasn't particularly advanced, but it was uncompromising. Call. Ask. Listen.
"He said we shouldn't try to sell. Just ask for nine minutes and ask questions," they say.
"And it worked surprisingly well."
The cold calls became the start of the entire customer journey.
"We learned more from those conversations than from anything else we did initially."
And that's really where Propely started to become a company, not just a product, the young founders explain.
That experience still resonates today.
"We're still quite commercially driven. We developed that mindset early on," they say.
"Northern Norwegian directness has probably influenced us more than we realized."
DNB supports those who dare to venture and is happy to help you on your growth journey.
The story of Propely begins with three friends from school. They learned to code as teenagers, built products in their spare time, and dove into entrepreneurship before they turned 20.
"We found each other through school and football. When one of us was working on something, the others joined in. We learned along the way," says one of them.
Before Propely (formerly called Eiendomsappen), they created several applications, including an app for sports teams. The result was 35,000 users in more than 50 countries, but the willingness to pay was low in a market characterized by voluntary effort.
"The contrast to real estate was enormous. There, there's capital and a willingness to pay," says the trio who actually didn't intend to work with real estate at all.
And it wasn't a given that the real estate industry would let them in.
"Nobody wanted to buy anything from a 19-year-old. So we called cold and asked for nine minutes of their time. We almost always got it.
That was the start.
When the trio started talking to real estate companies, they discovered an enormous need. Real estate companies contacted them and said: 'You have to come and look at our industry.'
– "But it turned out that the real estate industry was one of the least digitized sectors. Software solutions had been stagnant for years," they say.
That gave them an opening. Instead of building something entirely new, they took a more grounded approach and improved what already existed.
– "It doesn't always have to be a Blue Ocean strategy. Many of the best companies improve existing processes and do it significantly better."
The result was Propely – a complete FM system (facility management, operations, and maintenance) that consolidates communication, operations, and data into one platform.
An important lesson came early: Users weren't sitting behind a PC.
– "Almost two-thirds of usage is on mobile. That says everything about how this industry actually operates."
Today, Propely provides a platform for:
The ambition is simple: To make property management more efficient, more data-driven – and far less analog.
While many startups chase growth at any cost, Propely has chosen a different strategy.
– "We've raised relatively little capital and have been very focused on liquidity. We've planned month by month, carefully strategizing how to get the most out of the funds we've had available."
The company currently has positive cash flow and profit. They have around 25 employees, over 300 customers, and cover more than 10,000 properties.
Propely works with some of Norway's largest real estate portfolios and is considered a market leader in the private sector.
In the transition from a startup to a growth company, the right financial framework has been crucial. The founders particularly highlight the collaboration with DNB and client manager Roy Rønsberg.
– We've had a good dialogue with DNB right from the early stages. Roy has been an important sparring partner, especially when we've been in a growth phase and had to make structural decisions, they say, adding that it's not just about capital.
– Being able to discuss everything from liquidity to structuring the company with an advisor who knows us well has been very valuable.
The collaboration has also provided access to a network.
– Through DNB and our advisors, we've had doors opened and been connected with relevant networks.
– It's incredibly inspiring to work closely with companies like Propely, who combine technological expertise with clear growth ambitions. For us at DNB, it's about being an active sparring partner who helps realize their potential, says Assistant Bank Manager Roy Rønsberg.
The growth expert states that DNB has, in recent years, further developed both its financial toolkit and the way the bank works with companies like Propely, to better support their growth journeys.
– Being able to spend time following the growth of companies and actually making a difference is one of the most rewarding aspects of my role.
Today, Norway is the main market, but Propely is already operational in Denmark and Sweden. The goal is clear:
– Now it's about proving that we work just as well in the rest of the Nordics.
And perhaps even more importantly: That they can continue to grow – without losing what got them there.
– We've always been very hungry for new customers. That still drives us.
Sources
https://www.libertynow.no/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Deloitte-Technology-Fast-50-Norway.pdf
https://www.dnb.no/bedrift/a-aa/vekst