Trustport
Independent escrow and verified payments for Australian property deposits.
Both parties verified before anyone pays.
Trustport collects the deposit on a property sale. It verifies both parties before anyone pays and confirms the payee's account before releasing funds. The vendor and buyer decide who holds the money. Under Guardian Trustport holds it in a segregated account on bare trust. Under Gateway it goes to the agency's or conveyancer's trust account and Trustport runs the checks around it. Trustport does not operate a trust account of its own. The member reports both products live in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
Reconciled by hand, audited once a year
Australian real estate trust accounts hold around $6 billion, reconciled by hand and audited once a year. PEXA estimates $50m a year goes to payment redirection, almost all of it because bank details travel by email. In July, tranche 2 made every agency a reporting entity. Around 15,000 agencies now need an AML/CTF program, an AMLCO, a risk assessment, KYC on every party and reporting to AUSTRAC. The member reports that most had none of that six months ago, and that standing it up has been slow and expensive for the ones that have.
No bank details sitting in an inbox
The buyer pays through a secure link, so no bank details sit in an inbox. Trustport completes KYC and source of funds before the payment, and matches the account name to the account number before releasing a dollar. Under Guardian Trustport holds the deposit, so the agency has nothing to reconcile or audit. Under Gateway the money stays in the trust account the agency already uses, which suits conveyancers who prefer it and off the plan sales where the funds legally have to sit there. Trustport does the identity work on every transaction whichever product the parties choose, and agencies can rely on its KYC and CDD under a written reliance agreement. The member says that takes the customer due diligence obligation off their desk without them building it themselves.
Stopped before the money moves
Trustport stops the fraud before the money moves. Today the industry finds out afterwards and argues over who reimburses. Under Guardian the deposit sits on nobody's balance sheet, not Trustport's and not the agency's. The member reports that Lloyd's of London covers every transaction it runs. It employs a full time CISO and is working towards ISO 27001. Blake Williams founded Realtair before starting this.
Starts with residential property deposits.
Trustport sells into Australia and starts with residential property deposits. Gateway also reaches off the plan sales and agencies that will not give up their trust account, which escrow alone cannot. Solicitors and conveyancers run the same trust account model with the same tranche 2 obligations, and Trustport already works alongside conveyancing firms on the vendor side of every transaction. Trustport is exploring that market as the next step rather than building for it today.
Technology and compliance
Trustport built the platform in house and runs it on Google Cloud for infrastructure. FrankieOne does identity, Zai does payments. Trstport Pty Ltd, trading as Trustport, is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 001320746) of MSC Advisory Pty Ltd, AFSL 480649, and is authorised to deal in basic deposit products and non cash payment products. The member reports being enrolled with AUSTRAC. Its ISO 27001 program is underway and it is not certified yet.
Interest on the deposits they hold.
Trustport earns interest on the deposits it holds, which is why Guardian costs nothing on deposits over $25,000. Trustport charges $150 per transaction on Gateway. Annual revenue is under $500K and the business is not yet profitable.
Blake Morgan Williams, Founder · LinkedIn | Cat Munro, CTO and Founder · LinkedIn | trustport.com
Trustport completed the investor section of the survey.
Capital raised, valuation and raise size were submitted to FinTech Australia on the condition that they are released to investors only once a mutual NDA is in place. We honour that.
Shown with the member's permission. Everything else in this section stays sealed.
These figures are not present in this page. The blocks above are placeholders, not obscured data.
Request investor access
Introductions are made through FinTech Australia. The member decides what is shared and when.
Requests are handled centrally through the FinTech Australia investor register, so a mandate is matched against every open profile rather than this one alone.
Register your mandate →Prefer email? Write to elio@fintechaustralia.org.au
Registering means agreeing to be contacted by FinTech Australia and to enter a mutual NDA before any confidential information is released. Investor details are not shared with the member until the investor approves.