![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/REACH-Australias-2026-cohort-features-five-new-proptech-companies-at-the-launch-event.-Photo-Supplie.jpeg\")
REACH Australia\u2019s 2026 cohort features five new proptech companies at the launch event. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\nTLDR<\/p>\n
Celebrating seven years in ANZ, the REACH program welcomes five new proptech startups to its 2026 cohort, fostering industry collaboration and launching the new PropTech CoLab research initiative.<\/p>\n
REACH Australia\u2019s 2026 cohort features five new proptech companies at the launch event. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n
As MC for the evening, REACH Australia and New Zealand Managing Partner Peter Schravemade said Genesis was designed to help founders get into the right relationships early.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about adding more names to the list, it\u2019s about bringing people into a community that starts to take shape in a meaningful way from day one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Second Century Ventures\u2019 REACH\u00a0program has welcomed its 45th global cohort, with five new proptech companies joining the Australian and New Zealand intake at the 2026 launch event held on the Gold Coast on 21st March.<\/p>\n
The milestone marks the seventh year of REACH\u00a0operations in the region \u2013 the first market the program expanded to outside the United States.<\/p>\n
REACH\u00a0co-founder Dave Garland told attendees the decision to launch in Australia came down to a gap in the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese brilliant minds were met with not a lot of available venture dollars that were willing to step up and invest,\u201d Mr Garland said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe said, let\u2019s set up shop here because let\u2019s marry the brilliant minds with an outlet, with a bigger community and let\u2019s see what it does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Garland said the program was met with scepticism from other venture capitalists when it first arrived.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome VCs said, oh, you\u2019re going to be here for one year and you\u2019re going to get out of here because that\u2019s what happens to accelerator programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take really great satisfaction in knowing that this is our seventh year and we ain\u2019t going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The five companies joining the 2026 cohort span CRM, recruitment, property advisory and tourism accommodation.<\/p>\n
Aro Software, a Sunshine Coast-based CRM, is positioning itself as a centralised platform for sales and marketing. <\/p>\n
Founder Aron Rubulis said many agencies rely on disconnected tools that fragment their databases, leading to missed follow-up and lost opportunities.<\/p>\n
Crayons CRM, based in Brisbane, is targeting property management, with co-founders Russell Peter and Milo Holmes building tools for leasing automation and rent roll growth.<\/p>\n
Zapiio, founded by Josh Deckart, aims to bring collaboration to property advisory by connecting buyers\u2019 agents, brokers and accountants in a single platform.<\/p>\n
Recruit RE, led by Katie Cotton, offers a real estate-specific recruitment platform. <\/p>\n
Ms Cotton said the industry faces a difficult cycle of recruitment, with agencies spending $500 to $1,000 on job ads and $12,000 to $20,000 on recruiter fees.<\/p>\n
Park Booker rounds out the cohort, with founder Josh Volk building a booking marketplace for holiday parks and campgrounds \u2013 a category he said has been \u201cleft alone and underserved by traditional booking channels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Schravemade said the calibre of the group was evident in how they approached the evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat stood out with this cohort was the way they showed up. <\/p>\n
They were prepared, engaged and intentional, and at this stage, that matters just as much as the product or platform you\u2019re building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
REACH\u00a0co-founder Tyler Thompson told the room that the program now has more than 350 investments globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not stopping,\u201d Mr Thompson said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep doubling down on this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event also saw the launch of PropTech CoLab, a joint initiative between REACH\u00a0and the Real Estate Institute of Queensland. <\/p>\n
The project will survey the proptech industry to better understand founder pain points and inform future support.<\/p>\n
REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said the initiative reflects the institute\u2019s recognition of where its strengths \u2013 and limitations \u2013 lie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a way for us to come together,\u201d Ms Mercorella said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re actually developing tech and products and services that genuinely support people who are working in real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Schravemade, the night also reflected what has long sat at the centre of REACH.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real value of REACH has always been the community around it, and that only works when people lean in properly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestors back people as much as they back ideas, and this cohort set a strong standard early. It feels like the kind of start that builds over time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TLDR Celebrating seven years in ANZ, the REACH program welcomes five new proptech startups to its 2026 cohort,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-564728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}