Sydney and Madrid-based digital property investment platform PropHero has appointed Sophie Hayek to the newly created role of CEO Australia.
The move has been designed to allow the award-winning proptech to continue its strong local growth while accelerating its global expansion plans.
Delivering property investors a simple, transparent and feature-rich digital experience, PropHero helps clients invest in residential real estate in Australia and Spain.
With Ms Hayek now running the Australian arm of the business, company co-founders Mickael Roger and Pablo Gil Brusola will focus on global growth, continuing to explore opportunities to expand in Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific.
“Australians love property and I’m committed to offering a better way to invest in residential real estate, benefiting from PropHero’s next-gen approach,” Ms Hayek said.
“Our digital platform delivers data-driven insights and personalised recommendations straight into the palm of your hand – plus you also get to work with a personal property coach.
“In 2022, the Australian residential property market fell by about 4%, however, PropHero’s clients enjoyed capital gains of some 13%. Our clients don’t hesitate to refer their friends and family and they also return to buy more than one property with us and build a portfolio. That’s the greatest recommendation they can provide.”
Mr Roger said that after only 20 months of operation, PropHero had proven that its digital-led approach driven by big data and AI insights, could transform the way Australian and international investors found, purchased and managed properties that outperformed the market.
“More than half of our revenue now originates outside Australia and on average we are transacting a property a day,” he said.
Mr Brusola said PropHero was “incredibly proud” to have recruited Ms Hayek to join the team, first as Global COO in September 2022, and now as CEO Australia.
“We have big ambitions for PropHero Australia and we have every confidence that Sophie will deliver a strong growth trajectory,” he said.
Ms Hayek was looking forward to continuing to build partnerships with mortgage brokers and financial advisors to deliver technology where investors could access all their investment-related services in one place.
“Excitingly, we’ve just launched our Track app which enables our clients to connect their property portfolio – including any property they own anywhere in the world – and understand its cash flows, valuation and portfolio performance, with personalised recommendations for wealth accumulation,” she said. “There’s nothing else like it.”
Experiencing rapid growth since its incorporation in June, 2021, PropHero has pushed hard to secure clients and build out the technology while raising $1.6 million in pre-seed and $8 million in seed capital.
The business now has 45 employees and contractors based in Australia, Spain, Argentina, India and Indonesia, with 40% of the team female.
