New Delhi: Backed by funding from Rupert Murdoch-led News Corp, realty portal PropTiger has forayed into secondary market property transactions and plans to expand operations in ten more cities in the next 18 months.
Noida-based PropTiger, founded in February 2011, has so far facilitated sales of over 10,000 housing units, worth about Rs 7,000 crore, in primary market and is targeting to sell 50,000 homes over the next three years, its co-founder Prashan Agarwal told PTI.
In November, News Corp announced acquisition of 25 per cent stake in PropTiger.com for $30 million (Rs 185 crore).
The portal's existing investors, including SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Horizen Ventures, also invested $7 million. Since inception, the company has received over $44 million in funding.
“We currently have nine offices in eight cities with employee strength of about 550. We provide end-to-end services to home buyers and help customers across the value chain, right from identifying property to owning it,” Agarwal said.
He said the company sells flats available in the primary market being constructed by real estate developers and gets a brokerage in return. Besides, the company sells data on housing transactions.
Asked about expansion plan, he said: “We want to expand in 10 more cities in next 18 months.”
Agarwal declined to share the annual revenue earned by the portal but said that the company has sold over 10,000 housing units since February 2011.
“We are targeting to sell 50,000 flats of primary market over the next three years,” he said.
In the secondary market segment, Agarwal said the portal has started the facility of buy/sell in Bangalore and plans to roll out this service in the eight cities where the company is currently present.
“In the secondary market segment, the biggest challenge is supply. We have pre—screened about 70 brokers in Bangalore who will work for us,” he said, adding that the company would share the brokerage with these brokers once the property deal is concluded.
Besides expansion, PropTiger would utilise the funds it has raised on technology and marketing.
PropTiger.com was founded by Dhruv Agarwala and Kartik Varma, classmates from Harvard Business School, along with Prashan Agarwal, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian School of Business.
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