News Corp Australia invest in tradies home improvement website

News Ltd have acquired a 25% stake in hipages, Australia’s most popular website for finding and hiring tradespeople. 

hipages is the leading on-demand marketplace for hiring tradies in Australia, including plumbers, electricians, painters and builders.

Since its launch in 2004, the company has experienced significant growth year on year. David Vitek is co-founder and CEO of Hipages and Roby Sharon-Zipser, is the COO and co-founder of hipages.

It directly employs 200 people and helps over 65,000 verified tradespeople find work and get access to $1.35 billion worth of jobs generated annually.

"Our funding, comprising a combination of cash and advertising contra will help the business to further accelerate its growth and create greater brand awareness while providing our trades and services advertisers with a new platform with which to promote their businesses," News Corp Australia chief Peter Tonagh said in a statement on Monday. 

"For us this is an exciting investment and a key plank in our wider plan to expand and grow our property and home services business in Australia.

"More broadly, the investment follows our strategy of leveraging our large, highly engaged consumer audiences, and our deep relationships with advertisers, to expand our business into high growth."