Insight into the age, education and gender of startup founders from the Australian proptech industry has been delivered in a new report examining the sector.

As one of the fastest-growing technology verticals, proptech aims to deliver innovative products or new business models to reshape how humans design, construct, transact and interact with property infrastructure.

Australia’s proptech economy is growing at a tremendous rate, with the significant increase of industry engagement, venture capital, accelerator programs, and startups, according to the Australian Proptech Industry Map (APIM) 2021.

When it comes to those founding proptech ventures in Australia, the average is 40.3 years old and educated from a tertiary standpoint –  45.7 per cent of all proptech
founders in Australia holding a master’s degree, followed by 42.5 per cent of proptech founders holding a bachelor’s.

Only six per cent of Australian proptech founders hold a grade 12 certificate and either a certificate 4 or diploma with the final 2.2 per cent admitting they did not complete grade 12.

The average age of property sector experience for founders was 11 years, however 41.3 per cent admit to having never worked in the industry.

Still a male-dominated industry, the national proptech report found female founders make up a mere 17.4 per cent of proptech companies in Australia.

“This level of underrepresentation is not uncommon in the property or technology sectors, however, it poses a significant risk for the growth proptech economy in Australia,” the report explained. According to the data in the 2021 APIM, Queensland has the highest number of proptech startups with 40.2 per cent of validated participating companies being founded in the QLD. New South Wales was the second-highest state with 31.5 per cent followed by Victoria with 20.7 per cent.

When asked if the start-ups had global aspirations, 42.5 per cent of companies are looking to scale into the United States and/or Canada in the 2022 financial year.

“The size of the US and CA property sectors is enticing to an emerging technology startup and there are now proven models of how proptech products can scale into the US with the likes of BoxBrownie, Rate My Agent, ActivePipe paving the way for the next generation of startups,” the report read.

Australia’s proptech economy has reportedly collectively raised over $94 million dollars since 2010 – a mixture of industry/government grants, corporate venture capital, venture capital and family office funding.

Of the validated responses received in the APIM in 2021, Australian proptech companies were found to be supporting 2,171 jobs in Australia, with the stats not including international staff.

Read the entire The Australian Proptech Industry Map 2021 here.