Australian buyer's agent Dashdot collapses with A$10.5m in undelivered services, liquidators find

HouGarden Australia, 22 September — Dashdot, once one of Australia's largest buyer's agencies, went into administration in May and has since moved into liquidation, leaving close to 700 clients with no prospect of recovering the upfront fees they paid. The company's founders, Glenn McGrath and Gabi Billing, and its directors now face the possibility of compensation claims, according to the liquidators' latest report to the corporate regulator.

Liquidators Rebecca Gill and Martin Ford of international professional-services firm Teneo say their investigation indicates Dashdot's working capital was negative and that the company may have been insolvent from 30 June 2024 — roughly eleven months before it finally entered administration.

The liquidators' report reveals that while Dashdot's finances were deteriorating, the company continued to sign up new clients, promising to help hundreds of investors find their next property. It charged upfront fees that typically exceeded A$20,000 per client, covering property sourcing, portfolio management and finance arrangement.

Dashdot grew rapidly by advertising on Facebook and Instagram as Australian property prices rose. Financial records show the company generated A$15.85 million in new revenue in the twelve months to May 2026, up from A$12.99 million the previous year.

But the business was expanding beyond what it could sustain. Dashdot had anticipated continued client growth, committing heavily to its own technology platform and taking on staff at a rate that pushed weekly operating costs to A$360,000.

When the property market softened earlier this year, the company's already thin cash reserves were insufficient to absorb the shock. Administration followed in May. The liquidators say recoverable assets amount to just A$91,000, effectively wiping out any prospect of a return for unsecured creditors.

Among those unsecured creditors are 64 former employees, owed a combined A$1.38 million in unpaid wages, superannuation, annual leave and redundancy entitlements. Other creditors include the Australian Taxation Office, owed A$916,000; American Express, owed A$413,000 for credit-card debt; Meta, owed A$135,000 in advertising fees; and Teneo itself, owed A$177,000 in liquidator's costs.

During the period when revenue was growing, the company spent freely. It spent A$385,000 on a staff trip to Thailand to mark its fifth anniversary. In the 2024 financial year it paid A$200,000 in dividends to McGrath and Billing through their holding entity, G Squared Holdings. Teneo says it will assess whether those funds can be recovered from the founders, who have been living in South-East Asia for several years.

McGrath and Billing hold 96.5 per cent of Dashdot through a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. In practice, both operated as contractors, engaged through their respective consulting companies rather than as direct employees.

Some clients reported that Dashdot was still demanding payment as recently as two weeks before it collapsed. McGrath previously denied any wrongdoing and did not respond to a request for comment.

The scale of the financial deterioration emerged clearly when Teneo re-examined the accounts. What had been recorded internally as a A$1.3 million profit for the ten months to April was reclassified by the liquidators as a A$5.53 million loss — the difference arising because clients had paid fees but received no corresponding services. Dashdot's accumulated losses stand at A$11 million, and the company has not recorded a profit since at least 2022.

McGrath, in a lengthy open letter published in May, attributed the failure to several factors: tax-policy changes in the federal budget, a weakening economy, rising prepayment costs for social-media advertising, and an inability to raise new capital.

Before liquidators were appointed, Dashdot explored a sale. It entered negotiations with mortgage-broking firm Fouracre Financial, which was working alongside buyer's agency Investorkit. The transaction was completed in two tranches in June, valuing the company and its assets at A$1.5 million. Dashdot's outstanding debt to venture-capital firm Mighty Partners was assumed by the acquirers, Fouracre and Investorkit.

Teneo notes that McGrath and Billing agreed to repay a separate outstanding loan of A$75,000. A further A$3.09 million owed by Dashdot to its technology subsidiary, Global Proptech, is expected to be written off; the liquidators have advised Global Proptech's directors that the company's only remaining asset is an anticipated research-and-development tax rebate.

Teneo said the outstanding loan, the A$200,000 dividend paid to the founders while the company was unprofitable, and the fees collected for services never rendered could all form the basis of a further investigation into possible breaches of directors' duties. Whether any such breach occurred has not been determined and no action has been filed.

Dashdot's collapse carries a practical warning for property investors in Australia who are drawn to buyer's agency services promoted through social media. The model of charging large upfront fees — often more than A$20,000 — before services are delivered leaves clients exposed if the agency runs into financial difficulty. Investors should verify a firm's financial standing and consider whether fee structures include any protection before committing funds.