“Our goal is to build the best real estate investment platform in Europe”
Last Updated on 11 December 2025 by Equipo Urbanitae
At Urbanitae, technology is not just a support function: it is the foundation that allows thousands of investors to access real estate opportunities securely, transparently and efficiently. Behind that infrastructure is Jorge Gutiérrez, CTO and co-founder of the company, responsible —together with his team— for ensuring that the platform can process hundreds of investments per second, operate in several countries with different regulations, and maintain security standards comparable to those of a major financial institution.
In this interview, Jorge explains how to build a system capable of scaling at Urbanitae’s pace, which technologies are transforming the real estate sector, and why tech talent finds here a project with real impact. A conversation that reveals what usually remains unseen: everything happening behind the screen so that investing becomes simpler and safer with every step.
Jorge, you’re not only the CTO, the head of Technology at Urbanitae, but also a co-founder. How did you meet Diego and what convinced you to take that step?
I met Diego nine years ago through a mutual friend. He came from the fintech world and I from the tech world, and from day one we realised that our profiles fit, both personally and professionally.
Diego had the idea of creating something that would truly change the way people invested in the real estate sector. And that was what convinced me: the ambition to build something big that could help people improve their lives in some way. Every step in that direction is important for society, and even in our early conversations we talked about how this project had to be carried out with maximum transparency and professionalism. That alignment of values is what led me to take the leap.
When we talk about investment, security is essential. How does Urbanitae guarantee the security of investments?
For us, security begins with the business model and continues with technology. At a business level, we work with experienced developers, we analyse projects in depth using the best processes, and we operate within a very strict regulatory framework, as we are supervised by the CNMV and the Bank of Spain. And from the technology side, we add several additional layers:
- Secured infrastructure on certified clouds such as Google and Amazon
- Real-time monitoring and alert systems for any sensitive operation
- Double-validation controls in critical flows (payments, onboarding, fund movements)
- Fraud detection and intrusion-prevention tools
- Continuous audit processes, both internal and external
Security is not a project that is developed once and only requires maintenance. For us, it is a continuous process of improvement, and therefore at Urbanitae we treat it as another product line: with its own roadmap, KPIs and constant evolution.
At the same time, conveying trust is key. How do you see the role of technology in transmitting that sense of security and confidence to Urbanitae’s investors?
Trust is not built with a pretty website or with charts and data on a computer or mobile screen. It is built with coherence: what the investor sees on the platform must match exactly what is happening in the actual projects.
To give investors that perception, we work in three key areas. The first is transparency, with real-time metrics, updated information, and clear, coherent dashboards. The second is reliability: enabling investments even during peak stress moments caused by high demand, ensuring the platform operates at uptime rates trending toward 100%. And finally, closeness: technology exists to facilitate, but human relationships are irreplaceable. Our technological objective is to reinforce that relationship and ensure users have immediate access to whatever they need from Urbanitae.
Urbanitae now has more than €2.8 billion in assets under management. How do you build a technological platform capable of scaling at that pace?
People often think that scaling technology simply means adding more servers or more “hardware,” but in reality it is a process that begins on day one. It involves designing every component with the future in mind and with a clear objective: becoming the most important real estate investment platform in Europe.
In our case, that journey has been built on several fundamental principles. We opted for a modular, event-driven architecture capable of absorbing thousands of simultaneous operations without bottlenecks. Automation plays a key role, especially in critical areas such as compliance, onboarding, payments or reporting. We have also put strong emphasis on data: we operate with a single, clean, centralised source of truth that feeds all our systems.
“Big data is already a pillar, AI is a revolution, and tokenization only makes sense if it adds value.”
To this we add the design of resilient and fault-tolerant processes, as well as the development of a technological ecosystem that minimises human dependency in repetitive tasks. In this way, business growth is not limited by the availability of human resources.
Urbanitae’s platform is, ultimately, conceived and built with the same standards as any major financial institution, while maintaining the agility, speed and determination of a startup.
Urbanitae already operates in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. What technological challenges come with launching real estate investment in different countries?
Since we are an international company and each country operates with its own regulation, tax system, KYC processes, payment methods and even different investor expectations, our biggest challenges have been —and continue to be— adapting to that complexity without losing efficiency. This involves integrating new payment methods and regulated providers in each market, managing tax differences in reporting, withholding and documentation, and adjusting onboarding and compliance flows to comply with local regulations.
It also requires scaling our systems to support country-specific business rules without duplicating code, which is essential to keep the platform agile and sustainable over the long term.
The key to achieving this has been building a global, highly configurable platform capable of offering truly local execution and treatment in each of the countries where we operate.
Much of your work in Technology often goes unnoticed or stays in the background —and, like referees, people sometimes only talk about you when something fails. Which features or improvements would you highlight from the investor’s point of view in recent years?
Although many of the most important developments are not visible externally, they have a direct impact on improving the platform. Even so, several features have made a clear difference in the investor experience. One is our investment flow, which is extremely fast and robust: Urbanitae can handle hundreds of investments per second because the entire infrastructure is optimised for it.
We have also strengthened profitability dashboards, which now offer more detail and breakdowns, and we have transformed project information into something dynamic and updated: milestones, charts, documents, financial indicators and any relevant data evolve in real time. Additionally, we are not dependent on a single provider for any critical flow, which increases the system’s resilience.
Another major improvement has been offering unified access to all project information and functionalities across channels, both on the website and in the mobile app. And of course, we have significantly reinforced security, incorporating more robust authentication for bank accounts, anti-fraud systems and early anomaly-detection tools.
All of this serves a constant goal: ensuring that the investor is always at the centre of Urbanitae and enjoys a smooth, secure and transparent experience where any information or need can be met instantly.
First came big data, then tokenization and now AI. What role do these technologies play in the real estate investment world? How much of it is just hype?
I believe there is a lot of noise in this space, but also enormous potential. Each of these three trends brings something different. Big data is already a reality: it enables far more precise market analysis, anomaly detection and better understanding of project risk. At Urbanitae we use it intensively, and it has become one of the pillars of our decision-making.
Tokenization makes sense when applied to secondary liquidity and advanced fractionalisation, provided it truly adds value to the investor and does not make the process more expensive. The main challenge today is not technological but operational: how to connect the virtual world that tokenization enables with the physical world, where notarial processes and traditional requirements still apply.
“Many engineers come to Urbanitae because they want to work on something big and with real impact.”
And then there is artificial intelligence, which is probably the greatest revolution of all. Thanks to AI, we can automate more processes, improve fraud detection, deepen data analysis and accelerate internal operations. It also opens the door to much more advanced personalisation of the investor experience. At Urbanitae, we apply these technologies only when they deliver immediate value to both the investor and the company.
Urbanitae competes for tech talent with global companies. What does the project offer to attract an engineer who could work at any major firm?
Urbanitae competes for tech talent with global companies, but what we offer is something many engineers value greatly. For me, three aspects make the difference, and they are the same things I have always looked for throughout my career. The first is real impact: what you build here is truly used. Every development moves millions of euros and improves the experience of thousands of investors.Few companies offer such a direct connection between your work and its immediate effect on users’ lives.
The second is the technical challenge. We operate in an extremely complex and stimulating environment, where multi-country operations, international payments, large-scale automation, security and strict regulation all come into play. It is a place where an engineer can grow significantly and apply high-level knowledge.
And the third is the team and culture. We are demanding, yes, but also very horizontal. We value autonomy, the desire to do things well and continuous learning. And we all work with a clear purpose: to build the best real estate investment platform in Europe. Many engineers join Urbanitae because they want to work on something big, with real impact and in a positive environment. And here, they find it.
