Scott Bateman Named Proptech Leader of the Year at National Awards

2025 Proptech Leader of the Year and Kolmeo CEO, Scott Bateman, is taking a bold approach to scaling real estate businesses through smart software, operational insight, and long-term vision.

At the 2025 Australian Proptech Association Awards, one of the night’s most celebrated moments came with the announcement of Scott Bateman, CEO of Kolmeo, as Proptech Leader of the Year.

The award recognises a single individual whose leadership has had a measurable, lasting impact on the real estate technology landscape, and Bateman’s track record makes him a standout choice.

But the recognition is more than just personal, it reflects the growing influence of a new generation of proptech leaders who aren’t just building tools, but rethinking how the real estate industry operates at scale.

A Vision for Change

Scott Bateman isn’t new to transformation. Before taking the reins at Kolmeo, he built a career working across executive roles in finance, operations and innovation before moving into the property sector.

That blend of commercial acumen and systems thinking is what fuels Kolmeo’s mission today: to create property management software designed for scale, built for the future.

“Scott doesn’t just think in terms of product,” says one of his peers in the proptech space.

“He thinks about the business model, the operational complexity, the customer experience, and the long game. That’s what makes his leadership different.”

Since launching Kolmeo, Bateman has focused not on incremental change, but on bold reimagination.

The platform is architected to help property management agencies reduce risk, drive profitability, and expand without the overhead traditionally required to do so.

Kolmeo clients are seeing new performance benchmarks, such as one customer managing 10,000 properties with just a single trust accountant, thanks to Kolmeo’s modern payments infrastructure.

A Disruptor Grounded in Reality

Where some technology leaders fall into the trap of “innovation for innovation’s sake,” Bateman’s impact is grounded in real-world outcomes.

He and the Kolmeo team work closely with some of Australia’s largest and most ambitious property management businesses to identify the operational bottlenecks that limit growth and then eliminate them.

This has resulted in features like deeply integrated payment flows, compliance checks that reduce legal exposure, and tools that allow businesses to manage multiple brands, offices or portfolios from a single login.

“Scott’s strength lies in how he listens,” says a long-term Kolmeo client. “He’s not building software in a vacuum, he’s out in the field with businesses, understanding what’s getting in their way, and solving for it. That level of engagement makes a difference.”

More Than Just Software

What Bateman is building at Kolmeo is more than a platform, it’s a belief system. One that says property management doesn’t need to be bogged down by legacy systems, repetitive admin, or compliance risk.

One that believes software should empower people, not frustrate them.

Under his leadership, Kolmeo has also launched Kolmeo Plus, a services marketplace that turns tenant and landlord transactions into a new revenue stream for agencies, offering a path toward profitability that extends beyond fees and rent rolls.

This holistic, future-focused approach is why Bateman’s influence is being felt not just within his own company, but across the broader proptech and real estate ecosystem.

Industry Recognition, and What Comes Next

While Kolmeo didn’t take home the win in its platform category this year, with Tapi earning that honour, being named a finalist was a recognition of the momentum the business has built.

And the individual award for Bateman capped off what has been a year of rapid growth, bold decisions and increasing visibility in the national conversation around proptech.

The event itself, hosted by the Proptech Association Australia, served as a celebration of how far the industry has come and how far it can still go.

From tenancy solutions to data platforms to digital compliance tools, the night’s winners reflected a sector that is maturing fast, and solving real business challenges.

And as the sector grows, leaders like Scott Bateman are setting the tone: innovative, practical, and unapologetically ambitious.

“This award isn’t just about me,” Bateman said in a statement following the event.

"It’s about what we’re building at Kolmeo, and the incredible opportunity we all have to create technology that truly makes the property industry better, for businesses, for teams, and for the people they serve.”