PropertyGuru Group Appoints New Chief Product and Technology Officer

 

 

SINGAPORE, 27 January 2016 – PropertyGuru Group, (“PropertyGuru” or the “Group”), Asia’s leading online property portal group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Malcolm Fitzgerald as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO), effective 27 January 2016.  In this role, Malcolm will lead PropertyGuru’s approximately 100 product, user experience and engineering staff across the Group’s offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.As CPTO, Malcolm will be responsible for continuity in product development, quality assurance and production support. Malcolm will also identify opportunities and risks for PropertyGuru’s online businesses, drive the company’s innovation efforts and establish software development and production support processes across the region. 

Steve Melhuish, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of PropertyGuru Group said, “PropertyGuru is committed to constant innovation. Our goal is to develop great products that make the property process as easy as possible for our customers. I’m therefore delighted to welcome Malcolm to the team to spearhead this critical part of our business. 

Prior to joining PropertyGuru Group, Malcolm served as Chief Technology Officer for ANATAS, one of Australia’s leading IT architecture and engineering consultancies. At ANATAS, Malcolm guided clients to help produce a consistently high customer experience by implementing solutions such as Mobile First, Microservices and Lean Start-up. Moreover, he led the creation and development of a number of platforms to expedite client success rates, reduce delivery times by 80% and significantly increase business outcomes. He brings with him a track record of over 13 years of technical leadership, mobile and product design, delivering information technology solutions within the financial services, utilities, construction and telecommunications sectors in Australia. Malcolm is also the co-founder of four successful entrepreneurial businesses. 

“I am excited to be part of the PropertyGuru team and to contribute to the company’s development. We will build our digital DNA to embrace and exploit the exponential growth in digital technology, meshing our businesses into the wider digital fabric that extends to customers, partners, employees, and industries.” said Malcolm.

- ENDS -

For media queries, please contact:

Brian Witte

Ruder Finn Asia

+65 6336 5753

witteb@ruderfinnasia.com 

Cherry Lui

Ruder Finn Asia

+65 6336 0729

luic@ruderfinnasia.com 

 

Michelle Tan

Ruder Finn Asia

+65 6336 6408

tanm@ruderfinnasia.com 

PropertyGuru Group is Asia’s leading online property portal group used by more than 14 million property buyers, viewing over 116 million property pages and generating over 500,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers – every month – across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. 

Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by two entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, PropertyGuru has become market leader in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The Group received S$175million investment - the second largest in the technology sector in Southeast Asia in 2015 - to support its innovation, marketing and further expansion in the region.

PropertyGuru has a full suite of integrated property media capability, from its original core business in Online, Mobile and Events, to Television broadcast (in Indonesia, via an investment and partnership with EMTEK), and a recent acquisition of Print and Property Awards businesses, under the brand names of “Property Report” and “Asia Property Awards”. With a continued focus on innovation, PropertyGuru has developed and launched 15 mobile applications in four countries and three languages. At present, the Group records over 2.8 million downloaded mobile apps. In the past two years, PropertyGuru launched over ten major products and enhancements to help consumers make better property decisions, such as website and mobile app revamp, FloorPlans, a new listing quality ranking algorithm, SmartSelect – the world’s first research engine for easier property comparison, Agent Insights – a ‘big-data’ development that delivers personalized insights to customers through automated programs, in-depth Project Reviews of the latest property launches, Map Search, and a whole suite of financing tools and calculators.

Businesses in the region include:

• Property search portals:

• Print and online publications:

• Events:

Other Marketing solutions:

• New Project sales and marketing: ePropertyTrack

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Steve is an award-winning entrepreneur. In the last two decades, he built profitable companies throughout Asia and Europe. He co-founded PropertyGuru due to his personal frustrations at trying to find a new home in 2006. Today, PropertyGuru is the leading online property group in South East Asia used by over 14 million property seekers and 31,000 property advertisers every month. 

Prior to Steve’s current role, he had advised various firms including Skype, AOL, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Extreme Media, iPass and Ariadne Capital. He also led global teams and a US$500 million turnover business unit for Cable & Wireless. In 2007, Steve was awarded the Spirit of Enterprise Award in recognition of his contributions to entrepreneurship in Singapore. Steve has invested in 4 digital media firms and is passionate about Asia + Digital.