// startup autopsy

PropTek CR

Costa Rica proptech pivoted from rentals to vacation stays and got killed by a 13% tax overnight.

runway zeroRegulatory Kill

Forced closure by regulatory action

Founded	2017
Closed	2022
Country	Costa Rica
Sector	Proptech
Founder	Alejandro Mora

18%

Key Events Timeline

2017

FOUNDING

Alejandro Mora founds PropTek CR to digitize Costa Rican property rentals.

2018

PRODUCT LAUNCH

Platform launches; 90% of landlords refuse to list without personal broker relationships.

2020

PIVOT

Pivots to short-term vacation rentals targeting remote-work tourists amid COVID boom.

2022

REGULATORY ACTION

New 13% IVA tax on short-term rentals destroys unit economics; company shuts down within 90 days.

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Analyst plan

Documented cause

PropTek CR, a San José proptech founded by Alejandro Mora in 2017, raised $550K to digitize property rental transactions in Costa Rica. The platform launched in 2018 but faced entrenched realtor resistance; 90%...

of landlords refused to list without a personal broker relationship. After pivoting to short-term vacation rentals in 2020 to exploit remote-work tourism, the market collapsed when new AirBnB regulat

Verified lesson

“Pivoting into regulated markets without stress-testing regulatory risk trades one problem for another....”

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HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

PropTek CR raised €0.55M and still failed. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all metrics.

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