REA Group invests in fintech CampaignAgent
The $13.3m investment comes as the original ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ solution for real estate signals further growth Melbourne, 5 February 2021: Today REA Group Ltd confirms a strategic $13.3m investment in Melbourne-based fintech CampaignAgent. The pioneering ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ solution for the real estate industry allows customers to seamlessly pay directly for property marketing costs through its payment gateway, or simply defer the payment to better align with the proceeds of their sale through its flagship product VPAPay. This latest investment brings total funding for CampaignAgent to $30m since founding partners Shaun Moriarty and Seth Watts launched the property finance platform in 2017. It follows the company securing an $80m warehouse funding facility at the end of last year. The business has grown rapidly in the past 24 months, helping more than 85,000 property vendors through the 7000-plus agents that have embraced the fintech platform. With over 1,100 real estate businesses using VPAPay, one in five properties listed in the Australian market are using CampaignAgent. The lack of any penalty interest charges, makes CampaignAgent’s solution an enticing proposition for vendors, 60 per cent of whom opt for the ‘pay later’ option. REA Group CFO, Janelle Hopkins, will join the CampaignAgent board as part of the investment. The board recently appointed former MLC Life boss David Hackett as independent chairman. Commenting on the investment, REA Group CEO, Owen Wilson said: “We’ve been following the progress of Seth and Shaun for some time and feel the business represents a compelling offering to vendors and agents alike. We were impressed by their deep technology integration across the real estate ecosystem and the leading position that they have built in the market.” Moriarty and Watts have been friends since meeting during their MBA studies; the concept for CampaignAgent was conceived while sharing a ski lift on holiday together six years ago. The pair will remain the largest shareholders. Chief Executive, Moriarty said: “With our complementary backgrounds in property and finance, we immediately saw the potential for this idea. As the first company providing this service in Australia, it’s encouraging to see the sector growing. We recognise the massive potential of partnering with such a respected industry leader like REA to augment the company’s service offering. For us it’s just the start of our next phase of growth. The investment will support our immediate growth plans and product roadmap.” - Ends -Notes for editors About CampaignAgent CampaignAgent is Australia’s leading provider of Buy Now Pay Later solutions for the Australian real estate market. Co-Founded by Shaun Moriarty and Seth Watts in 2015 and launched in January 2017, CampaignAgent has built partnerships with agencies that represent more than 20% of Australia’s residential property listings and has assisted over 85,000 vendors sell their homes. Its flagship product – VPA Pay – provides a pay later solution for vendor paid advertising (VPA) and has enjoyed rapid adoption as it: • gives vendors the simple choice to Pay Now or loan up to $100,000 and Pay Later for their property marketing; • allows vendors to invest in the right marketing campaign to maximise their sale price; • removes the conflict of agents funding marketing on the vendors’ behalf; and • is deeply integrated into all aspects of the real estate software ecosystem. About REA Group About REA Group Ltd: (www.rea-group.com): REA Group Ltd ACN 068 349 066 (ASX:REA) (“REA Group”) is a multinational digital advertising business specialising in property. REA Group operates Australia’s leading residential and commercial property websites – realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au – as well as the leading website dedicated to share property, Flatmates.com.au and Spacely, a short-term commercial and coworking property website. REA Group owns Smartline Home Loans Pty Ltd, an Australian mortgage broking franchise group, and PropTrack Pty Ltd, a leading provider of property data services. In Asia, REA Group owns leading portals in Malaysia (iproperty.com.my) and Hong Kong (squarefoot.com.hk), a prominent portal in China (myfun.com) and a leading property review site in Thailand (thinkofliving.com). REA Group holds a controlling interest in India’s Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd. which operates the established brands of Housing.com, Makaan.com and PropTiger.com. REA Group also holds a significant shareholding in property websites realtor.com in the US, 99.co and iproperty.com.sg in Singapore and rumah123.com in Indonesia. For more information Liam Fitzpatrick CampaignAgent M: +61 411 591 222 Prue Deniz REA Group M: +61 438 588 460