Munich Startup: What does Diafania do?
Vera Meinert, CEO of Diafania: In the real estate industry, valuable time and resources are lost today through complex information exchange – with consequences like increased risks, liability cases, and missed revenue potential. Our solution tackles this exact problem: we reduce manual effort and transform unstructured data into reliable insights. To do this, we automate data structuring directly from documents, creating a basis where information can be easily retrieved, verified, and used. We started with the maintenance and inspection management process. Here, we automatically extract maintenance contracts and protocols, supporting contract management, maintenance planning, and quality control.
Diafania: data analysis meets industry expertise
Munich Startup: But that’s been around for ages!
Vera Meinert: You’d think so and hope so! Many systems process data, and with models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, analyzing documents and unstructured data has become extremely accessible. We combine these capabilities with deep process understanding and the interplay of information from different data sources. This way, we not only save time but create a data situation with extremely high quality.
What helps us most is our years of industry experience and modularity. This allows us to adapt perfectly to companies’ processes and identify connections between documents and information. By consistently using our own product for our own processes, we know exactly where things get stuck, what’s missing, and how the solution can be optimally deployed. This creates real added value that goes far beyond simple document processing.
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Vera Meinert: When I met Johannes a few years ago, he said to me: “Vera, you’ll found a startup one day!” I had to laugh – at that time, I really couldn’t imagine it at all. But he was right and recognized my creativity and drive for transformation early on. During my work in tech companies, I kept noticing the typical problem of missing or poor-quality data and the associated lost potential. Unstructured data in particular is a true treasure that’s often completely untapped. Together with Johannes, I developed the idea and then brought Michael on board, who brings the technical skills to tackle the subject with the help of artificial intelligence. That’s how we started building Diafania together.
Startup life: between high pressure and balance
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Vera Meinert: Life at a startup is highly dynamic: there’s always a crisis, endless construction sites, and you could work 24/7. The real art is setting clear boundaries and consciously taking breaks despite constant stress. For us, that sometimes means: laptop closed, off to the mountains, clear your head. It’s not always easy, but absolutely necessary to stay productive and creative in the long run.
Munich Startup: How’s business going?
Vera Meinert: We already have first customers and active projects that we’re strategically expanding and deepening. Currently we’re based in the proptech sector, but we also see potential to deploy our technology across industries. Regarding investors, we’re letting things come naturally – we want to stay true to our values and customers and won’t rush into decisions here.
Munich as a hub for proptech and AI
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Vera Meinert: Munich offers a dynamic ecosystem for startups: access to investors, partners, networks, and events like Expo Real or the Bits & Pretzels. The city combines economic strength and innovation power, which is very valuable for us as a startup. At the same time, competition is high – and that drives us to bring innovative solutions to market quickly.
Munich Startup: Outsource or do it yourself?
Vera Meinert: With our background in data and AI, we rely on our own capabilities in the core areas of product and technology development as well as use-case prioritization. But we consistently get support in areas where we have less experience or expertise. So that the quality is right across the board, we see the key in bringing in external expertise. Especially when it comes to industry access and know-how, we rely on mentors and supporters from the industry.
