Livebidding property auction app takes off
Former Dunedin man Leith Donaldson was a frustrated home buyer in Australia so he decided to use technology to help his cause. He tells business editor Dene Mackenzie about the development of an app for livestreaming property auctions.
TECHNOLOGY company Gavl is on the brink of great things as it embarks on a capitalraising programme to raise $6.5 million to help launch the realtime bidding of livestreamed auctions anywhere in the world.
Former Dunedin man Leith Donaldson came up with the idea of Gavl based on his experiences as a frustrated home buyer and his early adoption of technologies, such as livestreaming.
Mr Donaldson spent seven years in the RNZAF as an avionics technician and moved to Melbourne to take up a role as an avionics engineering instructor where he worked with international airlines.
‘‘In that role I studied digital and instructional design and used those skills to champion technological change among a number of large companies.’’
From there, he led the development of the Gavl (gavl.co.nz) product, seeing the company grow from himself and two cofounders — chief executive Joel Smith and Michael Artup — to 25 fulltime staff, including Mr Donaldson’s own internal development team.
‘‘I’ve recently been engaged as an industry speaker for IBM, discussing real estate technology and the role of artificial intelligence in the future of the industry.’’
Gavl started off quietly, being launched in Australia with $327,000 ‘‘bootstrap’’ funding from Mr Smith and his fatherin law, followed by a $2.7 million investment in June 2016 by
Harris Capital. The extra money helped Gavl to livesteam its first auction and release its iOS and Android apps, Mr Donaldson said.
The platform was expecting to raise its next $4.6 million of the $6.5 million quickly. Harris Capital was injecting a further $1.96 million into the business.
‘‘It will enable the launch of live auction bidding which will permit property buyers to view and make bids at auction in real time from anywhere in the world using eight of the world’s major currencies.’’
One month after launching in New Zealand, the platform had attracted interest and Gavl had partnered with Ray White and Harcourts to start streaming auctions in Auckland.
The South Island would soon follow, Mr Donaldson said.
Ray White Remuera owner and principal agent Megan Jaffe said her agency had many international and phone buyers at its auction and they could contribute knowing exactly what was happening on the ground.
‘‘It’s a fantastic solution and helps us broaden our auction audience even further, increasing transparency and improving the experience for vendors and family members involved in the buying process.’’
The bidding analytics Gavl provided at the end of each auction were valuable in sharing buying behaviour across Ray White teams, she said.
Mr Smith said the company was trialling technology to allow a consumer to not only watch but also bid and ultimately buy at auction. The transaction could be completed without having to be physically on the site.
Gavl would provide bidders with more ways to buy a property and vendors a greater audience to increase their opportunity of selling.
The new funding would help Gavl close the loop of buyers being able to participate in auctions through the live stream.
‘‘It will completely revolutionise auctions as we know them.’’
Mr Donaldson said Gavl was a market leader in auction livestreaming. It was the first to market, experiencing significant growth in just a few months.
It was the only app dedicated to the real estate market and had patentpending technology that could broadcast live events with onesecond latency, including Facebook Live which was commonly used by the industry.
When Gavl tested Facebook Live for auction livestreaming, it measured a 5sec to 20sec latency. In an auction environment, the delay could be the difference between a property selling for $630,000 and $675,000.
‘‘We spent 15 months developing the technology to livestream with a onesecond latency as well as addressing another challenge for agents — reliability with livestreaming. This technology is key for us in launching live auction bidding.’’
Harris Capital is the investment office of Flight Centre founder Geoff Harris who was an early investor in Topdeck, Fonda Mexican and is a former vicepresident of the Hawthorn Football Club.
Harris Capital managing director Brad Harris said the group was excited to expand its partnership with Gavl.
In the startup area, Harris Capital received a lot of pitches but very few had worldfirst technology as there were significant barriers to entry.
‘‘We were not surprised Gavl is experiencing exponential growth in its first full year of commercial operation. The management team has done a brilliant job of bringing this highly technical project to market and rolling it out across Australia and New Zealand.’’
Mr Donaldson said further development and innovation, resulting from the total capitalraising, included digital contract signing, deposit transfer facilitation between buyer and seller through the agent and 360degree camera and and artificial intelligence integration.
‘‘With 25 permanent staff, it will also permit Gavl to expand sales teams in new regions.’’
While the company was a technology startup, it relied on having people on the ground. The second round of funding would enable Gavl to invest in people and boost sales and marketing.