Catalano, Waislitz tip $7.1M emergency funding into struggling View Media
What's the deal? View Media GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised US$6.54M (≈$7.1 million) in debt, in a rescue package assembled by co-owners Alex Waislitz and Antony Catalano. The round follows a US$26.3M loss for the year to June 30, much of it tied to mothballing the group's view.com.au property portal.
How it's structured: Catalano and Waislitz's 20 Cashews business tipped in US$2.65M in "emergency funding" at 9% interest, alongside US$3.88M raised from other shareholders through 20 million new shares.
Why now? The company failed to raise capital to fund the build-out of its residential strategy for view.com.au. It restructured in April, deprioritising the portal and identifying cost savings of more than US$5.82M while booking one-off restructuring costs of US$2.26M.
What's the endgame? Waislitz and Catalano, a former DomainDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → chief executive, launched View in 2022 to challenge REA Group and Domain for a slice of Australia's $300 billion real estate transactions market. With the consumer portal shelved, the group has pivoted to real estate sales and marketing businesses, including off-the-plan platform AD Group, agency Today Media, and AI lead-generation firm PropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The numbers: On paper, the business is growing. Revenue rose across every category it reported — subscriptions, advertising, management, licence fees, and creative services — but the portal write-down drove the year's heavy loss.
What could go wrong? The pullback has already reshaped ownership. Southern Cross MediaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → sold its 500,000 shares for US$0.65 in July as it closed its ventures business, after earlier backers ANZDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Seven West MediaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → wrote down their stakes.
The signal: This is a rescue and reset of a failed challenger rather than a conventional growth round. It underscores how hard it is to break into property listings, a market where scale and audience are decisive and where REA still reported double-digit revenue growth in FY26 despite flat listings.
Read more: afr.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
