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Aussie real estate fintech taps ex-Deloitte partner as new CEO

BrickX’s Kareene Koh. (Image: BrickX)
BrickX’s Kareene Koh. (Image: BrickX)

Australian real estate investment startup BrickX has appointed former Deloitte Digital partner Kareene Koh as its new chief executive.

She replaces Anthony Millet, who stepped down in October after seeing the company through two years of growth. Millet remains as a director of the Sydney startup.

Koh spent nine years at Deloitte, working in ventures, consulting and digital during that time.

BrickX buys up investment properties and allows investors to purchase a slice of them by dividing it into small units called “Bricks”.

While the idea, dubbed fractional real estate investment, is not new, Sydney-based BrickX took it to retail investors in 2015 at the height of Australia’s property boom when many ordinary folks were priced out of the market.

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The startup’s portfolio includes 19 houses and flats in Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat and Adelaide — with a Perth apartment joining the ranks last month.

Koh said that in the aftermath of the financial services Royal Commission, it was even more important that fintechs place customer experience first.

“I see an opportunity to create a more even playing field for all Australians to benefit from changes in the property market without needing to buy a whole property,” she said.

Coinciding with International Women’s Day, BrickX founder Markus Kahlbetzer said that with currently only 17 per cent of chief executives being female, the corporate world would have to wait another 80 years before parity was achieved at the executive level.

“We’re glad to see inspiring women like Kareene leading BrickX and hope that women around the world can be similarly empowered to lead the most innovative companies,” he said.

The company now has 12,900 investors on its books, who are charged a 1.75 per cent transaction fee on transactions on both the initial purchase and transactions through the secondary Brick market.