Proptech startup PropHero raises $1.6 million seed round

Australian proptech venture PropHero has raised $1.6 million seed round for its property investment platform.

The round was led by GFC Global Founders Capital and supported by AfterWork Ventures, Jelix Ventures and The Fund.

The cash is earmarked to improve the company’s data models and digital customer experience, key hires, and to expand the footprint nationally across Australia and overseas. 

PropHero is a “next gen” in buyer’s agent services, combining data and AI with human expertise to make it simpler, transparent, time-efficient and more profitable.

Co-founders Pablo Gil Brusola and Mickael Roger launched the startup last year believing there was a gap in the market for “an app for that” to streamline the investment process.

“Our platform makes property investing accessible to a younger generation who have savings and want a simple digital experience,” Gil Brusola said.

“We also have older clients who like our data-driven approach so they can diversify their property portfolios. We’re cutting down the time it takes to invest in property by 90% because we have a digital platform and a network of trusted professionals.”

Gil Brusola said that since its inception less than 1-year ago, PropHero has built and launched its offering and helped clients to buy properties in NSW and Queensland with plans to expand nationally.

His co-founder Mickael Roger, who has a background in data science, said PropHero’s proprietary models pull 40 million data points to screen 240 variables in 18,000 suburbs to find investment properties in both the listed and unlisted markets with potential for high return and low risk.

“When you are investing in property, it’s vitally important to make an informed decision with the benefit of data. For a long time, people have been relying on ‘gut feeling’ anchored by a belief that property prices always go up,” he said.

“Often they invest literally around the corner from their own home because it’s too difficult to do anything else but that’s probably not going to maximise your return on investment.

“Our investors are currently outperforming the market for both rental yield and capital gain.”

PropHero charges a fixed fee of $990 (incl. GST) on engagement and $9,900 on settlement.

GFC Global APAC Partner Melvin Hade said they see tremendous opportunity in Australia and global markets that they’re looking to expand into later this year.

“Having invested in many leading proptech ventures globally, we saw an outlier in terms of PropHero’s traction that made us build conviction very quickly to back Pablo and Mickael,” he said.