Over the past few weeks I've been researching proptech startups in Australia to get a feel for how big the industry is and where the innovation is happening.
And at a first glance, it looks like property management is the sector receiving some of the most concerted attention from startups in Australia.
The response to the original post was tremendous. It led to the addition of 7 new startups to the visual, which has now been updated. There are now 25 Australian-led proptech innovators in the property management space by my count. (but please let me know about any that I've missed)
Startups that allow landlords to manage their properties directly or support the landlord experience include:
Proptech startups that make it easy for landlords to run or invest in short term rentals
Proptech startups that make it easy to deliver property maintenance services
Proptech startups delivering new property management tools to agencies, including trust accounting
Proptech startups delivering new experiences to tenants making it easier to find, furnish and pay for a suitable rental
The definition of 'startup' is pretty broad for the purposes of this exercise. This list includes brand new ideas that have nothing more than an ad for employees on Angellist (RentWolf and RentEasy). It includes startups that are in beta (Spacenow), as well as some more established players who have received significant funding or are establishing solid business models.
My criteria went along the lines of "Is this technology or delivery something that's only become possible over the past 3 or so years?" and "Is it being primarily set up by a non-legacy real estate player?". If the answer was yes to both of those, it went in. That doesn't mean some great innovation isn't happening from the legacy players - just that it doesn't fit this definition of an external innovator.
But the map and list above is a work in progress. It's based on the property management startups I've been able to find in just a short morning of searching - and the assistance of the crowd on LinkedIn (thanks team!). It's certainly not definitive.
Over the next few weeks I'll be pulling together maps of the Australian proptech landscape. Let's see what amazing innovators pop out of the woodwork when that's posted!
Do you know of a property management proptech I've missed, or are running a proptech start up yourself across any part of real estate or construction? I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a note in the comments below.