CarSales Founder Steve Kloss Invests in Urban.com.au and Gets Board Seat

The Australian primary real estate marketplace company Urban.com.au has secured investment from CarSales.com.au founder Steve Kloss.

Kloss joins the portal's board after being persuaded to invest A$1 million in Urban by CEO Mike Bird and Managing Director George Glover.

The board seat was offered in recognition of Kloss's "solid strategic advice and high-touch involvement” at Australian autos portal CarSales. Kloss's experience is expected to help Urban.com.au evolve its offering from an advertising platform to a transactional one.

Bird said of the appointment:

"We’ve known Steve for a long time, and he’s informally coached us through some pretty key strategic decisions over the years, so we’re stoked that he’s backing us to deliver on the next phase of our strategy given his experience with high-growth marketplace businesses.

"We have taken a keen interest in how Carsales Select is transforming the purchasing process by taking transactions online.

"We want to do something similar and partner with the best agents and agencies in the market to deliver property developers a fixed price per sale which helps them manage cost and reduce risk."

Urban is a specialist off-plan and new development portal. It mainly competes with the primary market offerings of Aussie giants REA Group and Domain