OCTOBER 26 2021

Published in the Australian Financial Review

‍

A tech company instrumental in a suite of high-profile commercial property deals this year, Inspace, has now done a deal of its own.

The company, which enables buildings to be viewed remotely in 3D, has banked $4 million in a pre-Series A raise led by Our Innovation Fund, with participation from Aconex founder Leigh Jasper, Investible and Artesian.

Justin Liang’s Inspace has been used in $1 billion worth of property transactions. 

The virtual property inspection platform is already used by 90 per cent of Australia’s top commercial property landlords and has helped facilitate deals such as the $463 million sale of 1 Woolworths Way to Singapore’s AA REIT, as well as KSL Capital Partners’ purchase of Sydney’s Four Points by Sheraton.

The company counts the likes of Dexus, Mirvac, JLL, CBRE, Blackstone, Brookfield, ESR and Lendlease as customers.

In the last month, Inspace’s technology has been used in $1 billion worth of property transactions.

Founded by Justin Liang, who was formerly with AMP Ventures, the business started out in 2017 as software that converted architecture designs into VR walk-throughs, but when COVID-19 struck it created its now core Inspace Stack product, which lets anyone from anywhere visit a commercial space.

“From day one we have had the vision to host the digital replica of every commercial building in the world and COVID has materially accelerated the adoption of our thesis in the industry,” he said.

“Every property asset owner, agent, manager, tenant and user is looking for innovative ways to sell, lease, or interact with their physical asset in the digital world. We’re providing them with an actionable platform that provides key ROI including more prospects to a sale or leasing in a marketing campaign, a faster sale or leasing process, more data and analytics and a more engaging experience for all stakeholders.”

Liang believes the technology will still be used widely as Melbourne and Sydney open up, as it enables interested buyers to view commercial properties in a timely fashion, without the need for laborious onsite inspections.

The business also operates in Bangkok and is expanding to the US and UK.

OIF partner and former Mirvac director Geoff Levy will join the Inspace board.

Liang said the company had demand for almost three times the amount of capital it raised and it would undertake a larger Series A round toward the end of 2022.