Five property start-ups to watch in 2025 as PropHero raises $25m

Proptech is running hot for investors. From apps targeting downsizers to ones helping buy units off-the-plan with minimal deposits, here are five property start-ups to watch.

PropHero co-founders Pablo Gil Brusola and Mickael Roger. Picture: Supplied.

Proptech start-ups are on the rise amid the nation’s cost of living crisis, securing some of the largest funding rounds and increasingly nabbing investor interest.

Proptech firms were in the top five start-up sectors investors were looking at, according to a first quarter report by Cut Through Ventures.

The sector had jumped 11 places since the final quarter of last year, overtaking start-ups focused on agriculture, space and aviation, fintech, digital marketplaces, gaming, robotics and software. Artificial intelligence topped the ranks of the most sought after start-ups followed by healthtech, biotech and medtech and logistics and supply chain start-ups.

A total of $993m was deployed across the first quarter, with funding deals made across 78 venture rounds and 22 accelerator rounds.

That near-$1bn sum outpaces 2024, 2023 and 2020, and matched the pace of 2022 but sits well below the major funding sums seen in Covid’s peak in 2021.

Alan Water, a venture lead at HSBC, one of the report’s partners, said Australia had become an increasingly attractive market to the US

“We are also seeing more US investors looking to Australia, including crossover funds and mid-market private equity sponsors,” he said.

Proptech and real estate start-ups took in $44m in the first quarter of this year, with some start-ups taking home the largest raises in the country. Here are five proptech start-ups to watch in 2025.

PropHero

Imagine being able to swipe left on a potential investment property you don’t like and then being able to trust that the platform won’t show you a similar property again.

That’s the idea behind a Sydney start-up that uses AI to pair investors with properties that suit their preferences and budget.

PropHero, dubbed the Tinder for property, raised a $25m series A round earlier this year led by Bailador Technology Investments.

The start-up, leveraging millions of data points and pulls information from more than 18,000 Australian suburbs to find the right investment match. It also operates in Spain, Ireland and the Indonesian tourist mecca of Bali.

Coposit

The second largest raise in the sector came from Coposit, which brought in a $14m series A round,

The start-up, founded by brothers Chris and Dan Ferris lets investors purchase off-the-plan homes with deposits as little as $10,000 and holds the deposit funds in a trust.

Coposit works with around 50 developers and partnered with Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank.

One recent development it worked with was NPA Projects and the upcoming Yves Towers in the Gold Coast, comprising 146 apartments across 26 levels by Mermaid Beach.

Coposit is currently working with NPA Projects to sell the Yves tower on the Gold Coast. Picture: Supplied

Bridgit

This Sydney-based short-term loan start-up founded by a first generation Ukrainian Australian entrepreneur wants to take over the so-called downsize market.

Bridgit, which was founded in 2021, is attempting to take over the so-called downsizer market – one that’s beginning to grow as new tax initiatives provide older Australians with an incentive to move into smaller properties.

Bridgit Co-founders Nick Jacobs and Co-founder & CEO Aaron Bassin

The company also wants to be a financial saving grace for those with inherited wealth, who might be asset rich but without the capital needed to shift out of their current home or invest in other ventures.

Aaron Bassin founded the business three years ago after stints with MoneyMe, KPMG, Deloitte and Morgan Stanley.

The 32-year-old founder said he has always had an eye on the housing market, and that home ownership was a dinner table conversation growing up.

Investors are increasingly getting behind the idea, with Bridgit raising $14.6m in a round led by OIF Ventures in June last year.

Bridgit’s average loan size for people looking to buy another place before selling is $1m, and is typically assessed in between 30 and 40 minutes. Mr Bassin said the whole process was typically wrapped up within four months.

Downsizer.com

Sydney-based Downsizer has found ground among homeowners who were strapped for cash but had mountains of equity within their home. It uses that equity as collateral allowing them to buy off-the-plan apartments and penthouses.

Downsizer co-founder Damian Morgan, Deposit Power general manager Brent Davidson, Downsizer Co Founders Mark Macduffie and Michael Kelly and Correlation Australia Holdings director Lance Warner. Picture: Stephen Cooper

The start-up was founded by Mark Macduffie, Damian Morgan and Michael Kelly in March, 2022.

Since then it has raised near $6m from investors and claims to have helped sell more than $150m worth of property using its zero cash deposit method.

Over 6500 buyers interested in downsizing have registered on its platform where it lists more than $4.7bn worth of new property for sale.

Downsizer was banking on data that estimates about 1.9m homeowners are planning to downsize.

Buy Airspace

Sometimes the only way to build is up. That’s the philosophy behind Warren Livesey’s Buy Airspace, a relatively new and niche platform that scours cities for buildings that have space for an apartment or penthouse to be built on top.

Buy Airspace founder Warren Livesey.

And Sydney unit owners are increasingly cashing in on the method, making money from the air above their apartment blocks, which goes into strata to fund long overdue renovations, build out swimming pools and for further development.

Mr Livesey is one of the nation’s biggest advocates of airspace development and he claims that in Sydney alone the industry is valued at more than $150bn, with potential to build homes on top of 90,000 strata buildings, he said, adding that the ­average strata rooftop is about 300sq m.

“All in all in Sydney, there’s about 30 million square metres of unused roof space in our urban areas that could be used for housing,” Mr Livesey said.

Originally published as Five property start-ups to watch in 2025 as PropHero raises $25m