BNPL service launched for property ownership

Bricklet, which is the FinanceIQ venture of technology company Lakeba, is a buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering, which allows customers to purchase selected property fragments, or “bricklets”, on its platform at 0 per cent interest.

According to Bricklet, this is the first interest-free form of property ownership.

Under the BNPL model, those who wish to invest now and pay later can repay the cost of their bricklet over 18 months instead of handing over the entire amount upfront, with repayments structured as “predictable” monthly instalments.

There are no fees for additional repayments (including repaying the total amount outstanding) and no late fees.

However, customers could potentially incur fees if the bricklet is sold following three months of payment defaults, Bricklet said.

Commenting on the launch of the BNPL offering, Bricklet CEO Darren Younger said: “With the power of the Bricklet platform, we have already ripped up the old property ownership model by making investment property affordable through property fragmentation. 

“Now, the platform is powering a transformation of property investment even further by allowing Australians to invest through manageable ongoing payments over time through the popular BNPL model. 

“For too long, investment property has been out of reach for many and reserved for an exclusive club who can afford the significant entry costs. Today, it’s been made even easier to buy, sell and own investment property in Australia.”

Bricklet currently holds over 1,000 bricklets, priced between $15,000 and $38,000 each, with a collective value of $48 million.

The platform has sold over 400 bricklets with a total value of $11.5 million to date.

Bricklet is one of Lakeba’s “FinanceIQ” portfolio of ventures, which aim to remove frictions from financial interactions through the use of digital technologies.

According to Lakeba CEO Giuseppe Porcelli, this will be a key area of focus for Lakeba in 2021.

“By creating a world-first frictionless fintech offering to benefit all Australians, Bricklet embodies exactly what we seek to achieve with Lakeba’s FinanceIQ portfolio,” he said.

“Prophetico, our AI neural network, scans software developer chat groups and troubleshooting forums to find business problems we can solve with new products. This was how we identified financial services as a key growth area brimming with potential.

“Open banking, the digital demands of Australians, and the need for frictionless financial products will now see us focus our efforts on conceiving, creating and commercialising a whole range of new fintech solutions over the coming years.”

Lakeba’s FinanceIQ portfolio currently includes four commercialised ventures, with the technology company in the process of co-creating a series of new portfolio ventures both internally and with partners.

The Lakeba Group is a privately held global venture catalyst firm that specialises in building technologies for individuals and companies and focuses on four business lines, including financial services, data, code IQ and engagement, payment, and loyalty sectors.

[Related: Ezidox maker acquires e-conveyancing marketplace]

Malavika Santhebennur is the features editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2019, Malavika held roles with Money Management and Benchmark Media. She has been writing about financial services for the past six years.