Here are the next two launches in the ASX's 'real estate tech' space

The “real estate tech” space was a busy one this morning with two players announcing their next moves.

On a morning when much of the ASX fell, small cap Rent.com.au (ASX:RNT) saw a slight rise at market open after announcing a $1.5m capital raising, which the company says will help it launch its latest product.

The company has a number of products aimed at renters, from ID verification to bond financing. It says this deal will help it launch its latest product, “RentPay”, which will helps renters make and track payments.

The company’s user growth ground to a halt in mid-March but started to pick up again by May as initial COVID-19 restrictions eased.

CEO Greg Bader says the last quarter of FY20 was Rent.com.au’s best ever quarter and the new quarter had been strong so far with its existing core business now profitable.

“The placement ensures that we are well placed to drive the next phase of the company’s growth via RentPay,” Bader said.

Shares advanced 10 per cent this morning to an intra-day high of 5.5c and are up over 70 per cent in 12 months.

Rent.com.au (ASX:RNT) share price chart

Expanding into property sales in Brazil

If you aspire to own your own home but have given up on doing it in Australia, one alternative is buying property overseas and Frontier Digital Ventures (ASX:FDV) is one small cap that can help.

This company is an owner of E-classified websites in developing countries including in Latin America. It owns 52 per cent of InfoCasas — a property portal with listings in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru.

One country InfoCasas hadn’t yet entered was Brazil, but this morning Frontier announced that was changing.

InfoCasas has entered a partnership with Brazilian real estate brokerage AoCubo.

AoCubo links aspiring property traders to algorithmically matched real estate agents. It makes money by keeping a percentage of the agents’ commission.

InfoCasas will provide its tech to AoCubo to power its property transaction business and facilitate expansion into other Brazilian cities. The deal also includes a three-year option for InfoCasas to buy up to a 20 per cent stake in AoCubo.

Frontier founder and CEO Shaun Di Gregorio said entering Brazil was a compelling opportunity.

“This opportunity is attractive for InfoCasas and its shareholders on a standalone basis but we believe the partnership also has broader applicability across FDV’s portfolio,” he said.

Frontier shares are up 45 per cent over the last 12 months.