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Following the sharing of the “difficult news” by the proptech’s leadership team yesterday afternoon, REB can now reveal the next steps for the company.
After the revelation that :Different had entered into voluntary administration, appointing KPMG as administrators, the leadership team has been reported as working closely with KPMG and keeping on a team to service all existing customers through the process.
KPMG, on its part, confirmed that Amanda Coneyworth and James Stewart had been appointed as voluntary administrators, sharing “the voluntary administrators have now commenced an urgent assessment of the business with the intent to commence an orderly sale of :Different’s assets and intellectual property as soon as possible.”
Within the internal note circulated to :Different employees, it was outlined that the voluntary administration “may not come as a surprise” given recent internal discussions.
“We have difficult news to share today,” it prefaced.
“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,” the note read.
“I won’t repeat what’s been explained at length in the industry these past 12 months — suffice to say the capital markets for scale-ups at our stage of growth are incredibly challenging right now.”
The memo continued, highlighting that the business had paused all growth and integration efforts on the :Different for Agencies product, which REB noted as a pivot from its previous consumer facing model.
Instead, they had been “working closely with our partners to enable a smooth transition of management over time.”
“The board has today decided to appoint KPMG as the voluntary administrators of :Different. KPMG will commence an immediate assessment of the business, and we understand they intend to commence an orderly sale of :Different’s assets and intellectual property,” it continued.
:Different said it expects the move to voluntary administration “will not change the service our owners and tenants will receive”, outlining also that its “team of property partners will continue to be on hand to support our customers, and owners and tenants will continue to have access to the apps.”
“Ruwin [Perera] and I [Mina Radhakrishnan] will be working cooperatively and collaboratively with KPMG in whatever way we will be most helpful through this process.”
Opining to employees that “this is not the destination that we were hoping to achieve with :Different”, the leaders said they are “inspired to see where you go and what you build next.”
In conclusion, the memo read: “We launched :Different in 2017 to completely rebuild Australia’s property management industry. Our mission was to take care of homes and the people in them, with technology and people working hand in hand. The property sector is so important to the economy and life here, but we believe it can be even better. This mission is as vital as it ever was, and that we will work closely with KPMG to give what we have built the best chance of having an ongoing positive impact.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
