Airtasker co-founder launches AI-driven property portal
Airtasker co-founder launches SohoAI, Australia’s first AI-native property portal for chat-based discovery.
Jonathan Lui, best known as co-founder of Airtasker, has launched SohoAI, what he describes as Australia’s first AI-native property portal. The platform leverages large language models alongside a decade of real estate data to deliver chat-based property discovery, challenging established players like REA Group.
AI Disruption Hits Property Portals
“SohoAI is a free-to-list platform that displays the property listings the same way as the market leaders,” said Lui. “But SohoAI also has the full power of LLM-powered AI chat and 10 years of real estate data.”
His remarks come as REA Group’s share price sits 44% below its February 2025 peak. The Australian Financial Review recently observed, “The fear that AI will threaten the monopolies of the online property platforms has destroyed billions of dollars.”
He believes this disruption mirrors the earlier shift from print to online listings, which birthed today’s dominant portals. “AI is the same kind of inflection point when new industry leaders can emerge from the massive paradigm shift in users’ expectations,” he said.
Beta Launch and Future Funding
The platform has operated in private beta since early 2026, with this week’s release marking version 1.0. The focus remains on real estate discovery and research, with ongoing weekly improvements to the AI model.
Version 2.0 is planned to introduce capabilities such as property inquiries, inspection scheduling, and automated negotiation on behalf of users. Like all LLM-powered tools, it occasionally generates errors, but the development team continues refining performance.
To expand its reach, he is targeting a new funding round by the first quarter of 2027. SohoAI has raised over $9 million to date, with its most recent round, in 2023, valuing the company at more than $20 million. Investors include Feedback Ventures, Bridgelane Capital, and Second Century Ventures.
The company is also a graduate of the REACH Proptech programme, backed by the National Association of Realtors, which represents more than 1.5 million U.S. real estate agents.
SohoAI is available on web, iOS, and Android. Free users receive up to three daily prompts and access to three months of proprietary market data. Paid subscriptions unlock full functionality.
Originally launched as Soho.com.au in 2018, the rebranded SohoAI has reportedly matched over 1 million properties weekly using AI-driven discovery. The platform continues evolving as competition intensifies in the real estate technology sector.
