News Corp invests in PE-backed India property platform
News Corp has paid $30 million for a 25% stake in the parent of PropTiger.com, an India-based online property marketing platform backed by SAIF Partners and Accel Partners.
PropTiger will join News Corp's portfolio of digital real estate platforms, which includes Move, a property listings business in the US, and a majority stake in REA Group, operator of leading Australian residential property website realestate.com.au. REA also holds an interest in iProperty, a Southeast Asia-focused digital real estate advertising business.
"PropTiger will provide analysis, information and insight so that Indians will be better informed when they make the most significant investment decision any family will make, buying a home," Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, said in a statement. "We believe the site will be the most important platform for developers seeking to market new properties and the most trusted and reliable source for purchasers, many of whom will be buying for the first time."
PropTiger was founded in 2011 by Dhruv Agarwala, Kartik Varma and Prashan Agarwal. At least 10,000 properties, with a combined value of over $1 billion, have already been bought by Indian homebuyers through the platform. It is estimated that India's residential real estate market will be worth $158 billion by 2020.
News Corp has invested in Elara Technologies, owner and operator of PropTiger. As part of the deal, Raju Narisetti, senior vice president for strategy at the company, will join Elara's Singapore-based board.
Other investors in the business include Accel Partners, SAIF Partners and Horizen Ventures. Accel and SAIF committed approximately $5 million in April 2012.
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