BRICKX lands investment from Westpac's venture capital arm

Westpac-owned Reinventure Group has announced it will invest an undisclosed amount in property investment platform BRICKX.

Westpac was reportedly one of many banks to express interest regarding investing in BRICKX, and Reinventure Group, Westpac’s venture capital fund, has made it a done deal.

BRICKX launched to retail investors in late 2016, and since then the increasingly dire issue of housing affordability has driven interest in the platform, which facilitates fractional property investment.

BRICKX “the future of financial services”

BRICKX CEO Anthony Millet told Canstar it is “fantastic” to have Reinventure on board.

“Having a partner such as Reinventure gives us a partner who really understands fintech, who is super credible in the VC (venture capital) community, and absolutely will help us raise our profile as a business,” he said.

Mr Millet added that the benefit of partnering with Reinventure was “not just raising more funds, but actually building strategic partnerships and accelerating our growth plan”.

But BRICKX’s primary goal, according to Mr Millet, is ensuring investors continue to have access to a range of diverse properties.

“The core focus is absolutely on business as usual and our current product,” he said.

“Any product extensions that we launch will really be to enhance the usability and the benefits in the existing products for existing customers,” he said.

“BRICKX is uniquely placed to be able to improve all elements of the property ownership lifecycle for consumers and also improve the experience for investors, so we’re focused on making sure that we’re delivering a great investment product whilst also being able to have wider positive benefits.”

Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, Reinventure co-founder Danny Gilligan said the decision to invest in BRICKX was “about innovating around the experience of becoming a home owner”.

“Instead of leasing from individual landlords, you can have a consistent experience around renting, and over a longer term horizon by expanding the range of rights, we can differentiate the rental experience for people renting Brickx properties to create this new market for rent-to-buy,” he said.

Mr Gilligan noted that while BRICKX’s method of property investment is radically different to the traditional method, “property should be considered a medium-to-long-term investment, and BRICKX should be no different”.

“It’s not a trading platform, but the ability to sell bricks does give you many more options, and allows you to use property as an asset class to achieve your goals.”