Start-up portal Zango welcomes Ray White to the register
The owners of real estate group Ray White have taken a stake in start-up property portal Zango.
The announcement:
In a coup for Zango, the owners of the nation’s largest real estate group – Ray White – have taken a stake in the Canberra-based start-up property portal.
The White family has thrown its support behind the largely industry-owned property portal, which is going head-to-head with the major media players in real estate.
Ray White is the nation’s largest real estate group, selling one in every nine homes nationally. It has now entered the fourth generation of family ownership, with Managing Director Dan White at the helm.
“My great-grandfather Ray White founded the company in 1902 in a tin shed in rural Queensland,” Dan White said.
“He was an integral part of his local community, and we have strived to maintain that connection as our business has grown.
“Across our network, there has been a strong desire to evolve the relationships that agencies have with the major property portals, and to retain more of the value created by moving house in the pockets of consumers, and their local communities.”
Cost is one place that Zango is making a difference, with sellers paying a fraction of the cost of other local websites where some charges are 700 per cent higher.
Zango has also been developed with a desire to provide a cleaner and more intuitive property search experience for consumers.
“Zango was built to provide a transparent platform for the real estate industry to come together and collaborate for the benefit of the consumer, and their local communities,” Zango Director Ben Faulks said.
“The White family has taken a generational view on the real estate industry, and see the potential in what we’ve built to date.
“Getting a majority of local agencies to support a start-up that’s going head-to-head with the media giants of our time has created a unique footing for us to drive meaningful change.”
The White family joins real estate tech entrepreneurs Peter and Andrea Blackshaw, Region Media owner Tim White and more than 80 local real estate agencies on the share registry.
Mr Faulks said the family’s investment wouldn’t affect the operations or direction of the company, as they hadn’t requested a board seat.
“What’s great about the White family’s investment is that they’re happy to take a small stake in the company, but make a large contribution,” he said.
“They see the need for local industry ownership but we also benefit from their reach and experience.
“It’s a huge win for Zango and our communities.”
Source: Ray White media release
