The award for 'Quote of Property Portal Watch 2023' went to Ryan Gallagher, CEO at Iovox, who used his time on stage to share a warning for companies jumping on the AI bandwagon.

We caught up with Ryan after he took to the stage at Property Portal Watch. Here's what he had to say on topics including charlatans, hiring, and why Iovox continues to sponsor the conference.

Is leveraging AI dependent on the right hires—or partnering with the right providers?

You have to partner with the right providers. But you have to be very, very careful because there are so many risks involved.

And there are so many charlatans out there, we know this ourselves, even with dealing with basics like getting companies to transcribe calls—you can't do it. They say "Yes, we're a European company," and then you find out that all the people who are working on these calls are in some other country, so you're immediately breaching regulations.

It's a common problem and it's why we just started building everything in-house.

Meanwhile, many of the models are very mystical—do you understand what models this person using? Is it trained in-house? Is it a shared learning model?

My advice? The best thing for businesses to do is to hire at least one person who fully understands AI and can guide you to the right partners to use—because if you go in blind and trust providers, you're going to end up in trouble.

If you can get the right hires, good luck, but it's really hard!

How does an "average Joe" differentiate the charlatans and the snake oil salesmen from the real experts?

Hire somebody who can who knows what to look for. When it comes to AI, you have to be able to understand what you're looking for. You don't need to understand everything, but you do need to know how to ask the right questions.

What are some of the use cases for AI via Iovox?

Iovox helps people mine calls and communications for gold.

We transcribe calls and pick out details that would otherwise go unnoticed—does this person need to sell a house? Do they need a mortgage? Have they already bought a house? Have they already spoken to one of your competitors?

Then we go one step further. Did we handle this call correctly? Did we follow up fast enough?

We had this one company with 1,000 different locations. Some of them had a variable close rate of 40%-90%. Our solution allowed us to analyse why one location was able to close transactions at more than twice the rate of their peers.

What kind of findings were you able to establish from this example?

It was a combination of a lot of factors. Some people were handling calls lazily, some were accidentally referring business elsewhere, or the employees handling calls were too busy to follow through on promises to pass on the caller's details to another facility in the same company.

With Iovox, we were able to significantly increase the capacity of the quality assurance team, of just eight people, from spot-checking 1% of calls to 100% of calls and therefore allow them to make proper, sensible decisions without manually transcribing calls.

Last question. You're a repeat sponsor at Property Portal Watch. Why come back and do it again?

Honestly, this place is great. We don't sponsor much, but this is the conference where we really get to see what's going on in the industry.

We're big on relationship building, and the conference provides us with the opportunity to spend more time with our clients in spite of them being so international.

Meanwhile, we gain access to the other 50% of attendees who are new companies, and new leads.

But ultimately this is a great conference—we wouldn't sponsor it if it weren't. There's high-quality people here, there's high-quality learning every time we come here, we meet new people every time we come here—and we get to meet the old people who are so important to us and what we do.

A few weeks out from the 39th edition of the event we spoke to founder Simon Baker about the conference's origins, evolution, and significance in the real estate landscape.

A Gathering of Industry Leaders

The conference brings together C-level leaders from across the globe, both from the prop tech and real estate marketplace sectors. As Simon explains, the primary objective is not just to have companies pitch their products but to facilitate discussions among industry leaders about the real challenges they face. He emphasizes,

"The objective is if you come you'll get to find out a lot about what other people are doing around the world. Not from sales guys, not from people just pitching their business, but actually from the C-level leaders discussing the real issues that they're facing and how they're approaching growing their businesses."

The origins of Property Portal Watch can be traced back to Baker's realization that despite geographical differences, many industry leaders faced similar challenges.

It all began in 2009 when Baker (pictured) decided to organize a one-day meeting before an industry conference in New York. The goal was simple: bring together like-minded individuals to share experiences and discuss business challenges.

Over the past 14 years that small gathering has turned into Property Portal Watch. From a handful of people and an old-fashioned projector in a meeting room, the conference now has around 350 industry leaders.

Baker notes that topics of discussion have also evolved, from concerns about web scraping in the early days to contemporary subjects like the impact of AI on property searches.

The Power of PPW Networking

One standout feature of Property Portal Watch is the sense of community it fosters among attendees. Baker proudly acknowledges the lasting relationships that have formed over the years, with some individuals attending nearly every conference. This sense of community is not just an incidental outcome; it's a deliberate objective.

"The thing that's been very consistent from the beginning has been networking," Baker says. The conference is designed to encourage interaction, and attendees are provided with ample opportunities to connect with one another.

"I think it's probably one of the best elements of doing the conference, apart from the fantastic content, is that we really invest in getting everyone to get together."

Baker himself has become something of an introductions specialist over the years and is happy to put people in touch with one another prior to a face-to-face meeting at the conference.

"When people reach out and said, Hey, look, I want to meet these people. I'll do introductions. Okay, I'll send a quick email and say to someone, hey, look, can we you should check with this person, about their business, and then they'll set up meetings and who knows where that goes."

Networking isn't just about forming friendships; it's a catalyst for deals and collaborations. Baker highlighted several instances where connections made at Property Portal Watch led to significant business opportunities. One notable example is his early investment in VivaReal, the Brazilian portal that would later become a multimillion-dollar success story. The conference serves as a platform for companies to find investors, partners, or even explore new business models.

Getting Out of the Comfort Zone

Many real estate portal companies tend to be myopic, focusing solely on their local market. Baker stressed the importance of breaking out of this mindset and expanding horizons. By attending global conferences like Property Portal Watch, businesses can gain valuable insights from peers facing similar challenges in different regions. This broader perspective can help them make more informed decisions and avoid common pitfalls.

"If you're in your own bubble, the best you can do is the knowledge that you collectively get. So if you happen to have three Einsteins in there, you'll probably go a long way. If you happen to have some people who are really learning about the industry, you might not go as far. But then you can go from your bubble and join the bigger bubble, where you've got a bunch of people who were basically solving the same problems."

"Can I get into mortgages, should I go into the transaction? What about the iBuyer model? listening to other people who either have done it and succeeded or failed the lessons that they've learned in that process can help ensure you move in the right direction and help you limit your mistakes."

Any portal, PropTech, investor, agent or supplier wanting to get out of their comfort zone and see what's happening in the industry should come along to the Property Portal Watch conference in Madrid from the 4th to the 6th of October. 

Among the distinguished speakers at the event, iovox CEO Ryan Gallagher and Anoop Tiwari, VP of Customer Analytics and Product Partnerships at Cars.com, will share their insights on industry evolution and innovative leadership.

Speaking about taking to the stage alongside a big name customer, Gallagher said:

"It's an honor for us to allow Cars.com to showcase their views on the evolution of the industry and their commitment to leading through innovation."

Cars.com, a prominent digital marketplace and solutions provider in the automotive industry, was established in 1998 and serves as a vital connection between millions of car shoppers and sellers every year. Anoop Tiwari, VP of Customer Analytics and Product Partnerships at Cars.com, highlighted their mission, stating:

"Through our connected platform, Cars.com stays ahead of changing consumer and market demands and streamlines the car buying and selling process with tools that help consumers and dealer partners alike. Our data-driven approach allows us to remain at the forefront of this changing industry by exploring the digital car buying experience in-depth."

The Global Online Marketplaces Summit aims to provide attendees with practical takeaways and tangible value. Simon Baker, founder of Online Marketplaces (one of the companies organizing the event), emphasized the significance of iovox and Cars.com's presence at the conference:

"Having iovox and Cars.com provide a glimpse into their approach to innovation and creating new opportunities for revenue growth will surely be a highlight for our participants at this year's conference."

The three-day conference will commence on June 7, 2023, and alongside iovox and Cars.com, it will feature renowned speakers from Loft, OLX, Rollick, EMPG, Apax Digital, Ringier, Swiss Marketplace Group, 360 Latam, TrueCar, Property Finder, Encuentra, and other industry-leading organizations.

More information about the event can be found at https://www.gomsummit.com/. Interested participants can also get a discount by using the code IOVOX20 when registering.

We've got some great speakers lined up who'll be presenting industry trends as well as their successes, failures and plans for the future. Below is a rundown of some of the most exciting presenters from the world of real estate.

Find out more and get tickets on the event website.

Malcolm Myers, founder of European Internet Ventures and longtime consultant to the online classifieds industry

Anyone who has been lucky enough to see one of Malcolm's presentations at past events knows that he not only knows his stuff but can back it up with data and convey it brilliantly. Malcolm has spent the last 15+ years buying, selling and raising capital for online marketplace businesses and was head of M&A at Prosus / Naspers so he's seen it all.

Jessica Weinerth, CEO of Encuentra24

Jessica started her career in online classifieds at Schibsted-owned Dominican generalist platform Corotos. She became Commercial Director in 2016 and went on to become CEO of the company in 2019.

In 2022 she became CEO of Encuentra24, the dominant Central American classifieds platform owned and operated by FDV's LATAM division leading a team of around 60.

Nils Koerber, Managing Director of Ringier South Africa

German by birth, Swedish at heart, South African by choice, and a true citizen of the Internet.

Nils spent years working as an IT consultant for blue-chip companies across Europe. But he later decided to trade in his suit and tie for the bustling world of startups in beautiful Africa. He has had the opportunity to work in different tech positions for some of the continent's now biggest digital companies.

Since 2020, Nils has been serving as the Managing Director of Ringier's tech hub in Africa.

Marcos Leite, General Manager of Zap+

Prior to the huge 2020 merger of OLX Group and Grupo Zap, Marcos held a variety of roles at OLX Brazil including CEO.

Since the end of 2020 he has served as the General Manager of ZAP+, the real estate portal market leader in one of the most exciting and fastest-growing real estate markets in the world. The company is competing with disruptors with some innovative business models and we can't wait to hear what Marcos has to say about his business and the industry in Brazil.

Ozan Sayar, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Property Finder

Ozan Sayar is a seasoned strategy, transformation, and analytics executive focusing on technology companies with 12+ years of experience across the globe (Silicon Valley, New York, London, Istanbul and Dubai), with tenures across eBay, McKinsey, Facebook and Property Finder.

Lastly, Ozan has been the Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer of Property Finder, the leading property portal in the Middle East that touches millions of consumers’ lives on a monthly basis. He has been leading the company’s strategic roadmap, as well as a full-fledged transformation of the company’s business model in the UAE from a pricing perspective.

Andreas Scholten, Head of Strategy and Capital at Loft

As the head of Capital and Strategy for a PropTech giant with a valuation of over $2 billion that has raised $788 million according to Crunchbase, Andreas should definitely be worth listening to.

Previously at renowned PropTech fund Fifth Wall, Andreas has been at Loft since 2020 and has seen Loft expand its business model and make acquisitions as the company attempts to become the true 'one-stop-shop' for Brazilians looking to move.

Ricardo Frechou, CEO of 360 Latam

What makes these events so special (apart from the networking and the great locations, obviously) are the industry leaders who generously give up their time to share their insights, experiences and sometimes failings in the world of online real estate marketplaces.

Here's a rundown of just some of the great speakers we have lined up for attendees of Property Portal Watch Bangkok 2023. To find out more and get your ticket before the price goes up, visit the conference website.

Scott Holmes - Innovation and Strategy Manager, REA Group

The Australian market leader will be represented by 25-year company veteran Scott Holmes who works closely with REA's Mergers and Acquisitions team. Prior to REA, Scott spent 9 years working as a real estate agent with the Barry Plant Group.

Scott will be speaking about Realestate.com.au's new self-service advertising platform 'Promote' which promises to attract a new category of advertisers to the portal.

Brett Hartley Wilson - Head of International, KE.com (Beike)

KE Holdings is perhaps the biggest real estate marketplace company in the world with a quarterly gross transaction volume of over $100 billion. Brett has been working for the company for the past seven years in the international department and has also consulted for companies around the world.

Brett has provided us with some expert commentary over the last few years on a market which is often quite obscure and secretive. We are really looking forward to hearing him talk about whether trends that have worked in China will work in the rest of Southeast Asia.

Christophe de Rassenfosse - Chief Product Officer, Property Finder 

Christophe de Rassenfosse brings over 25 years of experience in bridging “Business with Digital Technology”. For all those years Christophe has been rethinking the way consumers engage digitally with companies in various marketplaces in LegalTech, HrTech and now PropTech.

As Property Finder's Chief Product Officer, trust between real estate stakeholders is something that Cristophe spends a lot of time thinking about. He'll be talking about what the Emirati portal company has been doing to overcome the barriers to transactions that mistrust in the market can create.

Mark Nosworthy - CEO, bproperty

Since 2017 Mark has switched between managing portfolio companies and serving as CFO at Emerging Marketplaces Group (EMPG) which operates several market-leading real estate verticals across Asia.

One of those portals is bproperty which operates in Bangladesh, a property market with more potential than most. Mark will be telling Property Portal Watch delegates about how EMPG developed a market-leading property marketplace in a country of 170 million inhabitants. He will discuss the business model, the challenges they face rolling it out, and the success they have had.

Christos Votsis - Managing Director EMEA, iovox

Our Platinum sponsors, iovox always make sure that what they bring is demonstrably relevant to anyone working in the online marketplaces industry.

The company that turns phone calls into growth opportunities will be back this year with EMEA Managing Director Christos Votsis set to tell delegates about what the technology can do for their businesses.

His breadth of experience and first-hand insight on the positive outcomes associated with call tracking and conversational AI make him uniquely qualified to share his observations and lessons learned with delegates.

Georg Chmiel - Executive Chairman, Juwai IQI

The co-founder / Chairman of Juwai IQI is also an advisor to many other companies in and adjacent to the industry as well as being the former boss of iCarAsia and iProperty and was a Director at Mitula Group... That is to say, few people know the industry better.

Georg's presentation is entitled 'How to Crack the $500b PropTech Market' and will look at strategies on how companies can crack this incredibly valuable market.

The example here is Juwai's merger with IQI and the subsequent change in model as an example. The company redefined its business and identified opportunities to use PropTech to disrupt the real estate industry.

Malcolm Myers - Founder, European Internet Ventures

Property Portal Watch regular Malcolm Myers is a marketplaces advisor who has spent the last 15 years buying, selling, and raising capital for online marketplaces. He started his marketplaces career as Head of M&A at Prosus/Naspers and then founded European Internet Ventures in 2010.

Malcolm, whose presentations are regularly voted the best by PPW attendees, will be kicking off the conference by taking a look back at some predictions he made about the online marketplaces landscape back in 2019. Have these come to fruition or do we need to rethink some of our assumptions..?

We've got all of your questions about the event answered below...

When and where is Property Portal Watch taking place and where can I get tickets?

This year's conference will be held at the Carlton Hotel. The hotel has everything you'd expect a five-star luxury hotel to have including a bar and restaurant with sensational city views (below).

It is located near the Benchakitti Forest park, a 45-minute taxi ride from the airport and a 40-minute taxi ride from the Golden Mount Temple. The hotel also has a metro stop 6 minutes' walk away.

Property Portal Watch Attendees get discounted rooms. To claim yours, email reservations@carltonhotel.co.th and use the Code: 'PPW Conference'.

As for the date, this year we've decided to pack everything into two days - Wednesday the 1st and Thursday the 2nd of March.

At the time of writing (Monday the 16th of January), tickets are currently priced at $899 for marketplace and PropTech companies and $1,399 for suppliers and investors with tickets for Simon Baker's famous best practice Masterclass tickets at $399.

Hurry while the prices last - they are set to go up on Wednesday the 18th! Get your tickets here.

Who will I see on stage at Property Portal Watch?

Alongside regular favourites such as EIV's Malcolm Myers and SEO expert and Portal Ventures founder Mike van der Heijden, the conference will feature a mix of market leaders and some up-and-coming young companies. Among the speakers signed up to speak this year are:

Georg Chmiel, Executive Chairman of Juwai IQI

• REA Group's Innovation and Strategy Manager, Scott Holmes
• KE (Beike)'s Head of International, Brett Hartley Wilson
• Frontier Digital Ventures' founder & CEO, Shaun di Gregorio
• Juwai IQI's Executive Chairman, Georg Chmiel (pictured)
• FazWaz's co-founder, Mike Kenner
• bproperty's CEO, Mark Nosworthy
• Little Hinges' CEO, Josh Callaghan
• Listsocial's CEO, Steve Cachia
• PropertyScout's COO, Marco Barth
• Autoenhance.ai's founder, Jamie McInally

We are still finalizing the agenda and if you think you have something to say to a room full of real estate market leaders, get in touch soon. We might have a spot available.

Is there a Pitch Club for startups at Property Portal Watch this year?

Speaking of getting your message across to the industry, we are running a Pitch Club event for startups to show off what they've got to our panel of experts and potential investors.

If you think your startup business deserves the exposure, let us know. There are special tickets priced for startups available as well.

Check out the Pitch Club from our Madrid event back in October, below.

Who else is attending Property Portal Watch this year?

Networking is your net worth, they say. Property Portal Watch is renowned for the networking opportunities it provides and this year's Bangkok event will be no different.

We know that deals get done, conversations get started and connections get made at the conference. Perhaps you'll get to know some of the companies below at the event. Apart from those pictured, Digital Classifieds Group, Rubrikk, Sidespace and our gold sponsors, Iovox will be among the companies waiting to meet attendees.

Why should I attend Property Portal Watch?

You shouldn't take our word for it.

We spoke to attendees and speakers from our October event in Madrid to find out what they really thought about the conference and what it does for their businesses and the industry in general.

They said some pretty nice things.

Perhaps the most glowing reference that Property Portal Watch has ever received however was from SEO expert and Portal Ventures founder Mike van der Heijden...

Find out more about Property Portal Watch Bangkok 2023 here.

A select section of attendees were treated to a private masterclass session run by Online Marketplaces’ Simon Baker on Tuesday in which they learned everything about how to build a transaction focussed marketplace. 

To kick off the action this morning, Online Marketplaces’ Simon Baker introduced industry experts Malcolm Myers, Andrew Rechtman and Konstantin Kalabin who spoke candidly about the past, present and likely future of real estate verticals — with a particular focus on how portals may transition into more transactional models as the sector becomes more competitive.

Myers and Rechtman both sang the praises of emerging BBYS (Buy Before You Sell) models that solve the problem of longer, weaker chains, while Kalabin highlighted the fact that lead qualification remains a human-first exercise, with phone calls still the best way of identifying the best prospects.

Afternoon speakers included Artem Umanets, chairman at Ukrainian portal Dom.Ria, who spoke about how the Ukrainian portal verifies its property listings.

Iovox, the conference’s gold sponsor, then delved into the revenue potential of call-tracking AI, which can translate buyer and seller phone calls into data in real time.

Jaroslaw Swiecicki, CEO at Polish marketplace Morizon.pl, explained the journey his company has been through in merging with the competition, Gratka.

Andrey Mima, CEO and cofounder at Ukraine-based Flatfy Group, told the story of managing a business in a crisis, including salary management during periods of limited income, and how to best manage cash reserves to sustain the business.

Interestingly, Flatfy boosted its income from international operations to 50% of its total revenue while the Ukrainian market stalled.

Mima also outlined the Homes Of War project, which is running initiatives including window-replacements for destroyed properties as winter sets in. The link to donate is below:

United24 was set up by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The final panel of the day featured Ricardo Frechou, CEO at Infocasas, and Ben Neve, CEO and founder at Net Ventures—who discussed emerging global markets in the property portal space. Frechou noted that many marketplaces act too slowly to build revenue and secure their position in new spaces.

After a long day of talks and networking, delegates will be decamping to the swanky Fortuny Bar to sample some Madrid nightlife and enjoy some drinks put on by our silver sponsors Portal Ventures and Floorfy.

Where can I get tickets for Property Portal Watch?

Despite the economic turmoil in much of Europe, ticket sales are coming along well. So well in fact that there are only 80 left! Get your ticket while you can here.

We've also extended September pricing until the close of business tomorrow (Wednesday the 5th of October). So save yourself some money and some stress by getting your tickets now.

Who will I see on stage at Property Portal Watch?

Immoweb MD, Piet Derriks will be presenting at PPW

We've got a good mix of market leaders, innovative business models and something a little bit different. Alongside regular favourites such as our Chairman Simon Baker and EIV founder Malcolm Myers, companies you'll see on stage at Property Portal Watch include:

• Immoweb (Belgium)
• Swiss Marketplace Group (Switzerland)
• Morizon Gratka (Poland)
• Endeksa (Turkey)
• Huspy (Spain)

We've signed up a few more exciting speakers this week to round out the agenda as well...

• RentSync (they recently bought out 6 portals in Canada)
• Kyero (the market leader for ex-pat property in Spain)
• Flyspaces (end-to-end commercial property marketplace in Singapore)

We're still finalizing the agenda and if you are desperate to speak to a crowd of hundreds of real estate marketplace bosses, then get in touch - we might be able to squeeze you in. You can see the full agenda for the three days here.

Is there a Pitch Club for startups at Property Portal Watch this year?

The Pitch Club we held in Miami (below) in June for the Global Online Marketplaces Summit was a great success and we'll be doing the same in Madrid. Real estate marketplace and PropTech startups will be pitching to our shark tank of experienced investors.

If you think your startup business deserves the exposure, get in touch. We can still expand the Pitch Club this year and there are special tickets priced for startups available.

Who else is attending Property Portal Watch this year?

As usual, the list of attendees for Property Portal Watch includes a who's who of market-leading real estate portals from across Europe and beyond. Apart from those on the image below, some of the big-name portal companies signed up include Scout24, Emlakjet, Ingatlan, TradeMe, Aqarmap, Lifull and Alma Media.

Okay, let's talk specifics. Where and when is Property Portal Watch?

Property Portal Watch Madrid will be taking place from Wednesday the 26th to Friday the 28th of October at the five-star Novotel Madrid Center Hotel - a 15-minute taxi ride from the airport.

Attendees get a significant discount on rooms at the hotel and having celebrated the conference there before several times we can confirm that it is a very nice place to be.

We pack plenty of content into the three days with presentations and panel sessions running from 09:00 until 18:00 on the first two days (with plenty of breaks in between, don't worry). On the final day we wrap things up by 13:00 so you'll be able to make a late afternoon flight home.

It's not all business, is it?

Property Portal Watch has lasted 13 years because it does more than just give a platform for great presentations. The conference is legendary for its networking and we make sure there are plenty of opportunities for attendees to meet their new customers, investors, advisors or industry contacts.

The event has regular breaks as well as sponsored cocktail events. This year we even have what our Head of Events, Lola is mysteriously referring to as a 'special cultural surprise' for attendees.

We know you'll be there on business but it doesn't hurt to have fun while you're in Madrid.

What are people saying about Property Portal Watch?

It looks like it isn't just us who are excited by the return of Property Portal Watch. We've been speaking to presenters, sponsors, suppliers and attendees and the buzz is real.

We don't want you to take our word for it though. Property Portal Watch is worth attending and people have been saying some very nice things about it in the YouTube playlist below.

We couldn't have put it any better than EIV founder and regular speaker Malcolm Myers did when we spoke to him a few weeks ago...

For those who attended the Global Online Marketplaces Summit in June though, the benefits far outweighed all of those factors. During the many networking breaks, we spoke to industry bigwigs, suppliers and those just starting out. They all spoke to us with a smile on their faces about why they had made the decision to come to one of the industry's most famous events...

Why do portal CEOs love coming to our events?

As attendees saw, real estate portals around the world are not exactly all the same. They are all faced with similar problems and challenges, however, particularly how to make money from transactions.

“Everyone here is living the same problems so we can understand each other in a certain way.” Juan Elias, CEO of Yapo.cl

For Urban.com.au CEO, Mike Bird, the YouTube videos from previous conferences were useful but there's no substitute for attending in person:

“After watching the conference and some of the guys that were speaking at the Bangkok event, it really made me realise the opportunity we had to move into the transaction space and vertically integrate it.”

“Our goal was always to end up in the transaction but listening to the speakers really just highlighted the opportunity to do that now and speed up our strategy. And now it's a key part of the process we're operating today. But my thought after I learned so much just watching the conference on Youtube was that I had to come and experience it for myself.”

It's not just other real estate specialists that our attendees got insights from at the Global Online Marketplaces Summit. Getting a glimpse of what's happening in the world of automotive marketplaces is just as valuable according to Fincaraíz CEO, Martín Monzón:

“Although our portal Finca Raíz is is the leading real estate vertical, there's all these little things happening in cars too. And there's a lot of things that we can learn.”

Then, of course, there are those networking opportunities. The chance to meet peers from around the world is something our attendees were effusive about...

“I think it's a fantastic networking opportunity. I get to catch up with a lot of colleagues that are in the same industry but not necessarily in the same country. I get to keep up to date with some of the latest trends happening across the industry around the world.” Martin Monzón, CEO of Fincaraíz

“We are very happy because at this global summit, we are able to learn new initiatives and to and to learn from other companies what they're doing, not only in Latin America but also globally.” Jair Morales, Contact Center Manager at Encuentra24

“I think it's nice here that we can meet other companies with different profiles and also get great visibility of what we're doing outside our normal groups.” said, Andries Oudshoorn, CEO of OLX Brazil.

What's in it for suppliers?

Apart from those networking opportunities and the chance to hear the latest trends from across the industry and beyond, there is business to be done at our conferences. Suppliers told us that the fact that the Global Online Marketplaces Summit attracts C-level attendees is a big pull for them.

“What we do at Freespee requires us to talk to decision-makers, so it’s key to be able to talk to the top level. That's why we're here” Samuel Papon, Senior Sales executive at Freespee

“it's probably one of the few conferences where you have key stakeholders in the marketplace environments, decision-makers.” Gaétan Rougevin-Baville, COO of Meero

Of course, suppliers aren't just selling all day. The intangible benefits of hearing from experts about what is going on in the industry is incredibly valuable as well as Sudonum co-founder, Mark Griffioen told us...

“The intangible stuff is just being able to get perspective on what's happening outside of the market that you spend most of your time in… So you get an opportunity to just broaden your perspective really.”

No better place to be for a company starting out

This year, the summit played host to another edition of the famous 'Pitch Club' where startups put the case to our panel of seasoned experts for why their marketplace deserved to win 2,500 credits from the call-tracking specialists and conference sponsors, iovox.

From a marketplace for creative space to a marketplace for acting talent, hearing about the range of problems being solved by the six innovative young companies was a highlight for many attendees.

The lessons learned, the feedback from the panel and the chance to snag an investor were invaluable for Dror Levy, the founder of legal services marketplace Legal Drop, who participated in the event.

“I came here because I really love the concept of online marketplaces. I always have, but I'm not sure that I know everything there is to know so I came here to learn from people who are veterans.”

“I am also in the pitch looking for my first institutional investor. It's not just that I want somebody on the board, I want somebody who's been there, done that who could show me the way.”

The good news is that the FOMO you might be experiencing while reading this doesn't have to last too long. The legendary Property Portal Watch conference will be happening in Madrid from the 26th to the 28th. Read all about it and get your tickets here.

Smiles on faces at breakfast and hugs in the lobby were on display at the Edition Hotel as an industry started to renew acquaintances after a pandemic-induced hiatus.

The day kicked off with a master class from SEO expert Mike van der Heijden. The Portal Ventures founder showed a packed-out meeting room the SEO pitfalls for online marketplace businesses as well as some fascinating case studies.

The first talk on the main stage was conference veteran Malcolm Myers looking back and reassessing the predictions he made about the industry before the pandemic and answering audience questions...

• Was the market wrong to value transactional businesses such as Carvana and iBuyers so highly? Malcolm says no.
• Are iBuyers just FinTech in disguise? No again.

Expert panel session at Global Online Marketplaces Summit 2022

Later, attendees were treated to the combined wisdom of Malcolm, Christophe Rousseaux and Online Marketplaces' Chairman Simon Baker in a panel session on the future of the real estate portal industry.

OLX Brazil is an 800-pound gorilla and is one of the most important companies in all of Latin America. CEO Andries Oudshoorn explained to the audience how the company is digitising transactions in the homes and cars vertical and discussed the threat from the likes for Loft and Quinto Andar.

Next up was iovox's Cecilia West who told attendees about the benefits that call tracking can bring to the classifieds industry. Did you know that phonecalls consistently account for between 30-60% of classifieds businesses leads?

Ringier operates in markets as diverse as Switzerland and Kenya and is one of the most interesting online classifieds businesses in the world. Board member Robin Lingg answered questions about the business. Interestingly Robin thinks that 80-80% of revenues will still come from the company's core business in five years. The other big interesting point was the huge merger of Ringier and TX Group in Switzerland was 7 years in the making and not necessarily headed straight to an IPO.

Tolga Idikat told us about iBuying in Turkey. Emlakjet took a big risk when it started buying houses and the model is still far from perfect (only 1.5% of leads make it anywhere near the end of the funnel) but the business is going well in a market with low interests rates and high inflation.

HomeSyte's Debbie Chien rounded off the first day by telling the audience about the potential of the Vietnamese real estate market. Demographics, low loyalty from agents, frequent scams and the return of ex-pats make Homesyte's proposition an attractive one.