Listed property giant Dexus has partnered with Sydney-based venture capital firm Taronga Ventures to launch an incubator program for emerging proptech businesses to scale across Australia and Asia.
Dexus now becomes be the founding real estate corporate partner for Taronga Ventures’ growth program and joins other investors including Microsoft, Google and IBM, UNSW and CSIRO. The initiative is also backed by the Australian Government.
The program, RealTechX, is aimed at emerging technology businesses in the real estate and wider built environment sector to achieve “rapid and sustained growth.”
The program selects participants that can solve problems and also capture opportunities for their corporate groups. Selected Proptech start ups can land direct investment in order to capitalise on customer relationships available through the RealTechX network.
Taronga usually invests between $100,000 and $3 million in each early-stage company.
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“RealTechX will help the property industry stay on the edge of opportunities that assist in keeping pace with rapid change and meeting customer demand for enhanced experiences,” Dexus executive director Darren Steinberg said.
“Our partnership with RealTechX will also enable Dexus to secure first-mover advantage on next generation solutions for our business and customers.”
Taronga Ventures, is founded by Jonathan Hannam, a former Mirvac head of capital and ex-Aura Funds Management founder Avi Naidu in 2016.
The company has already garnered big-profile admirers with superannuation fund investor ISPT, already invested.
“With RealTechX, we have created Asia’s first government supported, industry led scale-up program, designed to help Australia’s property sector prepare for the next phase of industry evolution,” Hannam said.
“Our aim with RealTechX is to fast-track RealTech growth businesses domestically and help them to expand across Australia and Asia with strong local operating partners.”
Over the next 12 months, the scale-up program will bring together up to 10 market-ready technology businesses, up to 20 established firms, and the market access and capital of Taronga Ventures.
Investment capital into proptech companies growing and is expected to reach $20 billion by 2020 as new players and traditional real estate corporates continue to pour money into technology and property.
