In celebration of TechStars Sydney’s ‘Demo the Future’ event, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort.
Next up: Our Leg Up – helping Australian homeowners turn their equity into income – while also giving buyers a boost onto the property ladder.
Our Leg Up
Founder: Michael Ragavan
One liner: Our Leg Up has invented a new category of investment products that allows property owners to generate a return on equity trapped in their property, without any capital outlay.
Reimagining property as an asset class
What is Australia’s largest asset?
You might be tempted to say coal or superannuation. But you’d be missing the obvious.
“Property is by far the largest asset class in our country,” says Our Leg Up founder Michael Ragavan.
“It serves as the cornerstone of wealth and security. And the equity held within those homes, estimated at more than $7 trillion, sits unused. It doesn’t generate income, cannot be traded easily, and rarely benefits anyone beyond the owner.”
That static pool of value is what Our Leg Up is setting out to change.
The Melbourne-based fintech has built a new category of investment products which allows property owners to earn a return on their equity, without selling or refinancing, initially through helping others buy a home sooner.
“It’s a new way to monetise the largest pool of inaccessible capital in the world. By pledging a portion of your property’s equity, you can help many others get into the housing market and earn an attractive return at the same time,” Ragavan explains.
What’s the problem Our Leg Up solves?
Australia’s housing story has always been a tale of two groups: those who already own property and those still trying to catch up.
Every year, catching up becomes even harder due to rising prices, slow wage growth, and the high cost of living.
Already three in five new homebuyers get a leg-up from their family who help them with a deposit.
For everyone else? Cutting back on avocado toast doesn’t cut it.
How does the product work?
“For property owners, Our Leg Up allows them to pledge a portion of their built up equity as a secured guarantee against a pool of other people’s home loans,” Ragavan said.
“Banks recognise these pledges under the Basel III framework, which means qualified buyers can access low deposit loans and avoid expensive lenders mortgage insurance.”
And the math?
“Homeowners earn around 4% p.a. on the equity they have pledged. Compare that to the 0% they get when that equity remains unused.”
“The result is a rare situation in which everyone benefits. Buyers can purchase their first home up to 10 years sooner and save $10,000’s in rent and insurance. Property owners turn an often inaccessible asset into a productive one, and banks lower their capital costs on low deposit loans.”
For a sector that sees no change except in interest rates, it’s an incredibly novel solution.
More than $50 million in equity has already been committed by property-owning Australians. The company plans to launch a pilot supporting over $250 million in home loans during the first half of 2026.
Why did Techstars invest?
“Starting a company is hard, inventing a completely new financial product is on another level of difficulty. Especially one that can change wealth equality for millions of Australians,” says Techstars Managing Director Christie Jenkins.
“You wouldn’t back just anyone to attempt it. We chose Michael for two reasons. First, he’s wickedly smart – he read the 700+ pages of APRA regulations and associated law himself and found a way to create this product, even when teams of lawyers initially said it couldn’t be done.”
“Second, and more importantly, he is a man with insanely high integrity. His honesty, the way he treats his team, and the people who back him and believe in him (including former bank executives and regulators) are all examples. We are talking about the savings and the homes of Australian’s – integrity is what we care about most.”
From product to platform
While the initial focus is on residential lending, Ragavan sees the potential for much more.
“Today, our product’s primary use case helps banks offer reduced interest home loans for low deposit buyers, with less risk and improved margin for banks,” he said.
“Tomorrow, we want to become the exchange that allows real estate equity to move freely across the financial system.”
The long term ambition is to create a global marketplace for real estate equity, where the same concept can support commercial lending, auto lending, and even corporate debt.
“In that future, real estate equity will no longer be a passive store of value, but a dynamic contributor to the broader economy,” Ragavan said.
Australia’s economy will never be the same again.
What’s the most important lesson Techstars Sydney taught you?
“Clarity is key. Even the most innovative and valuable propositions will struggle without a simple explanation. It’s been a long journey, getting the narrative to a stage where people understand our invention and its potential,” he said.
“We’ve also strengthened the company’s approach to working with regulated institutions and to scaling trust as an asset in its own right.”
What’s next?
Our Leg Up will begin its first institutional pilots with partner banks in early 2026 and is currently speaking with additional lenders for this initial cohort.
Michael Ragavan’s call to action is straightforward: “If you want to earn a return on your inaccessible equity while doing some good, visit our website. Together, we can give each other a leg up.”
- Read about the other Techstars Sydney startups here.
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