Melbourne-based proptech group Third Door Ventures has acquired iBuildNew, Australia's largest home builder comparison platform, in the latest deal by entrepreneurs Mike Bird and George Glover to create a multi-marketplace technology platform for the property sector.

The deal for iBuildNew comes on the heels of the company’s acquisition of homebuilder comparison site Homeshelf.com.au early last year.

Through Third Door Ventures, which was formerly known as the New Home Network group, co-founders Bird and Glover have consolidated their interests in digital marketplaces that are focused on “high-intent property transactions”.

The iBuildNew deal announced today and the acquisition of Homeshelf last year, build on the group’s founding portfolio of assets comprising developer marketing agency Social Garden and off-the-plan apartment platform Urban.com.au.

Co-founded and led by Daniel Peterson since 2015, iBuildNew connects homebuyers with major builders such as Simonds Homes, Metricon and AHB Group by providing a specialised platform to compare and shortlist new home designs, house-and-land packages and builders.

The business was previously backed by RACV, which held an interest of nearly 30 per cent.

Third Door Ventures has not disclosed financial details of the acquisition for iBuildNew, which is the company's largest to date.

“We've had an incredible 12 months growing Homeshelf and saw real potential in what the iBuildNew team had built," says Glover.

“They've carved out a strong leadership position in the builder comparison space, and we're excited to help scale that further."

The acquisition of iBuildNew follows a strong run by Third Door Ventures for Homeshelf which has become the group’s fastest growing business since its acquisition early last year.

Homeshelf profiles more than 1,000 home builders across Australia allowing buyers to compare their industry accreditations, completed build quality, floor plans and design options.

Third Door Ventures says the combined platforms represent Australia's largest specialist audiences for both home builders and off-the-plan apartments, serving hundreds of property development clients.

“We have the largest off-the-plan apartments platform in Urban.com.au and now we have the largest homebuilder platform as well,” Bird tells Business News Australia.

Bird also reveals that iBuildNew was originally in the group’s sights when its acquired Homeshelf last year, but he says that it wasn’t a fit for the business at the time.

Since then, the company has ramped up its focus on enhancing the technology behind its platforms to create a data product that offers consumer behaviour insights that developers can use to design their projects.

“We were going to launch a data product off the back of this, but we had to fix some of our data infrastructure first,” says Bird.

“We spent a year working on that. But as we went through the process, we realised that the technology we built enabled us to make these kinds of acquisitions and move them onto a shared technology platform.”

Bird says this has prompted Third Door Ventures to look for additional acquisition opportunities that can be added to its platform.

“Our focus is on solving problems in the most challenging segments of the property buying ecosystem,” he says.

“By bringing iBuildNew into the group, we unlock further scale to better serve consumers looking to buy brand new property and improve the tools developers use to connect with that demand."

The latest acquisition was aided by a secondary capital raise that brought on Carsales co-founder Steve Kloss as a strategic investor and chairman of the group.

The company has previously revealed that a $1 million investment from Kloss in 2022 had valued the group at $40 million which was prior to the last two acquisitions.

Third Door Ventures says the latest acquisition comes amid ongoing housing supply constraints in Australia which is driving interest in platforms that provide greater clarity for consumers.