Brokerage co-founder becomes CEO of PropHero

Mr Arora, who started in his new role on Monday (11 December), has assumed the position following the departure of Sophie Hayek, who recently stepped down from the position for personal reasons. However, Ms Hayek will continue to be affiliated with the company as she will take on the role of brand ambassador next year.

PropHero is a property technology company co-founded by Mickael Roger (a former associate partner at McKinsey) and Pablo Gil Brusola that aims to help investors buy residential property.

Following its launch in Australia in 2021, the company has been building its broker partnerships and recently partnered with Cinch Loans – its original broker partner – for its new property portfolio app.

The two co-founders welcomed the new hire, with Mr Roger stating: “We are incredibly excited to have Suvidh join our leadership team. Suvidh will help us continue our ultra-fast growth trajectory (including eight times revenue growth in 2023) and help us become the number one place for property wealth, both in Australia and in our other international markets.”

Similarly, Mr Brusola stated: “Suvidh is an exceptional people-oriented leader. Culture is everything in a company and Suvidh will help us ensure we keep this amazing culture while scaling fast.”

Speaking to The Adviser about the change of leadership, Ms Hayek said: “Leading PropHero Australia and its remarkable team has been an incredible chapter in my career, marked by substantial growth, industry recognition, and high customer satisfaction. I take immense pride in our collective success.

“As I step down, I have full confidence in Suvidh’s ability to lead with excellence, leveraging his financial expertise to unlock new opportunities. I’m excited about the path ahead for PropHero and look forward to supporting Suvidh.”

Mr Arora reflected that Ms Hayek had left a strong legacy of growth in Australia, telling The Adviser: “I’ve known Sophie for over two years now and I want to acknowledge her efforts in making PropHero the standout success it is today.

“We’ll maintain a close relationship with Sophie as she will take on the role as brand ambassador in the next few months.”

Noting his move to the proptech, the Melbourne-based broker said he had admired the proptech’s growth since its launch.

“It gives me immense pleasure to be presented with this opportunity to lead the next phase of growth PropHero is about to embark upon,” Mr Arora added.

He stated that his first priorities as CEO would include building “large-scale integrations with broker CRMs as well as aggregator and brokerage partnerships to scale up the offering to broker clients throughout Australia”.

“Given the unique proposition of being able to buy properties for clients not just in Australia, but also in Spain and Bali (with even more countries being launched next year), there are massive synergies I am looking to achieve between broker businesses and PropHero,” Mr Arora said.

Priya Sood becomes Cinch Loans CEO

With Mr Arora having now moved to PropHero, his Cinch Loans co-founder and senior lending specialist Priya Sood has taken over the leading diversified brokerage as CEO.

Mr Arora said: “When it came to succession planning at Cinch Loans, I had no doubt in my mind that my co-founder Priya was the only person who could carry forward the legacy we have built together and take it even further with the same amount of passion and dedication.

“She will take over the running of the business with support from rest of the amazing Cinch Loans team, including the newly appointed head of revenue, Arnab Baral, while I step away altogether and focus on growing PropHero, avoiding any conflict of interest.

“I am confident that each and every client and partner is going to be served with the same amount of conviction and dedication,” adding: “Cinch Loans will continue be the leaders in innovation and customer satisfaction, that it has become synonymous with.”

Ms Sood told The Adviser that she was “incredibly honoured and excited to be appointed as the CEO of Cinch Loans”, stating that the opportunity was “both a privilege and a responsibility that [she takes] very seriously”.

The new Cinch Loans CEO continued: “I am committed to continuing and expanding upon the Cinch Loans legacy built by Suvidh.

“As I step into this role, my top priority is to enhance our focus on customer satisfaction even further. We will ensure that every client’s mortgage experience with Cinch Loans is exceptional, personalised, and hassle-free.

“Our team at Cinch Loans is the backbone of our success. I am dedicated to fostering a culture of growth and development, ensuring the skills and resources they need to excel in their roles and provide the best service to our clients.

“I intend to explore opportunities for strategic expansion and partnerships that will enable us to serve even more clients and broaden our reach. I am confident that with the support of the incredible team at Cinch Loans and the trust of our valued clients, we can achieve great success.”

[Related: How this broker has been rapidly growing his team]