“We have difficult news”: Sydney proptech :Different lands in administration

Administrators have been in called in for Sydney-based proptech startup :Different after the company failed to secure enough funds to continue operating the business.

According to a notice from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Amanda Coneyworth and James Stewart from KPMG have been appointed administrators of the company.

Founded in 2017 by ex-Silicon Valley executives Ruwin Perera and Mina Radhakrishnan, :Different offered a property management service-as-a-software (SaaS) platform for real estate agencies, landlords and tenants.

In an internal note sent to staff yesterday, the co-founders broke the news the company was going into voluntary administration.

“Over the past seven years, I’ve shared a series of weekly reflections to the company. This is the hardest one I’ve ever had to write. Although it may not come as a surprise given our recent discussions, we have difficult news to share today,” the note said.

“While we’ve accomplished so much together, we still require additional funding to complete building and scaling our platform. To support these growth efforts, we’ve been working to raise funds and we have not been able to secure enough to continue operating the business as it’s currently being run for any significant period of time.

“I won’t repeat what’s been explained at length in the industry these past twelve months — suffice to say the capital markets for scale-ups at our stage of growth are incredibly challenging right now.”

A spokesperson from KPMG has confirmed the administrators have commenced an urgent assessment of the business, with the intent to commence a sale of :Different’s assets and intellectual property as soon as possible.

The news comes almost two years since :Different secured $25 million in a Series B led by Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) venture-scaling entity x15ventures as well as Antler. At the time, the funds were used to build the company’s team of property managers and its technology platform.

:Different had also entered into a partnership with CBA, which made its platform available across channels like the CommBank app to support property investors with guidance throughout the entire home buying journey.

In 2017, the company secured $1.3 million during a seed funding round funded by both local and Silicon Valley investors, which was followed up two years later by a $3.5 million round led by AirTree and PieLAB.

“While this is not the destination that we were hoping to achieve with :Different, both Ruwin and I are extraordinarily grateful to each and every one of our employees for joining us on this journey to date, and thankful for the hard work and effort that you have put in,” the internal note said.

“It’s been our privilege to work with you, and we are inspired to see where you go and what you build next.”