SoftBank commits $14.7m to India's Housing.com

This is Housing.com's first funding since a December 2014 round worth $90 million, which was also led by SoftBank, the company's largest investor. The new capital will be used to support new strategies and accelerate growth plans, according to YourStory.

Housing.com had a difficult year in 2015, with well-publicized disputes between the board of directors and co-founder and CEO Rahul Yadav. The board fired Yadav in July, several months after he first resigned, issuing a scathing letter to the board, and then was reinstated days later following an apology. Just a week afterward Yadav announced that he was transferring all of his shares in the company to its employees.

Since firing Yadav, the board has been attempting to bring Housing.com under control. In November it hired a new CEO, Jason Kothari, who has been scaling down operations by withdrawing from many cities and laying off hundreds of employees. The company has also refocused on home sales, dropping its rental listings business.

As Housing.com works out its troubles, the online property listings sector has seen its own developments, with classifieds site Quikr launching its own listings business, QuikrHomes, and buying property search site CommonFloor earlier this month. Housing.com has been mentioned as a possible acquisition target, but the company has denied that this is under consideration.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Consumer
• Technology
• Expansion
• Venture
• India
• Softbank
• Consumer
• Technology
• TMT
• Growth capital
• Venture