Anyone who has looked for a flat in Berlin knows the drill. One listing, hundreds of applications. At the Battle of the Tech Schools 2026, five 42 Berlin students built a tool for the person on the other side of that inbox.
the brief.
The Battle of the Tech Schools, organised by WBS Coding School, ran from 28 to 30 September 2026. Seven schools took part. The brief, Kiez Concierge, asked for a working AI prototype that helps Berliners find a home, keep one or live well in it, built with AI agents that reason through several steps. Teams also had to handle personal data under GDPR and keep their tools fair, since turning someone down for a protected characteristic is illegal.
the twist.
At 16:00 on the second day, the organisers gave every team the same surprise: landlords wanted help too. A single Berlin flat can draw more than 500 applications in a day, and somebody has to read them. Teams worked remotely for two days, then came to the 42 Berlin campus to pitch live and take questions from the judges.
what besichtigo does.
BesichtiGO connects to a landlord's Gmail account, reads the incoming rental enquiries and pulls every applicant's details into one dashboard. Landlords rank what matters to them, from a permanent employment contract to a non-smoking tenant, and each applicant gets a percentage match. One click builds the shortlist. Another sends the viewing invitations.
the day.
Maryna, Samuel, Sergej, Shehani and Shuxin built it. First place went to Turing College with Amt-Buddy. The judges came from DocMorris, Delivery Hero, TeleClinic and Get The Flat, and n8n gave every participant Cloud Pro access. A year earlier, a 42 Berlin team won the same competition with Kompass.
Maryna, Samuel, Sergej, Shehani and Shuxin