India's VC-backed PropTiger, Housing.com agree merger

The deal includes a $50 million strategic investment from Australian counterpart REA Group, which acquired Southeast Asian real estate portal iProperty last year. An additional $5 million will be contributed by Housing.com's lead investor SoftBank Group.

Financial terms of the all-stock transaction were not disclosed, although the enlarged company is estimated to worth about $250 million, according to The Economic Times. Dhruv Agarwala, co-founder and CEO of PropTiger, will serve as CEO of the joint entity, while Housing.com CEO Jason Kothari will step down.

"Housing has established itself as a formidable online brand and we admire its consumer-centric product innovation," Agarwala said in a statement. "The timing of this deal is just right."

It follows a difficult period for Housing.com, including well-publicized disputes between the board and co-founder Rahul Yadav, who subsequently resigned and transferred all his shares to the staff. The company, which has raised more than $120 million since 2012, was said to be worth as much as $250 million when it raised a $90 million round from SoftBank in 2014. This valuation is understood to have fallen as low as $70 million by the time of the merger.

Previous investors in Housing.com include Helion Venture Partners and Qualcomm Ventures. The company received a $14.7 million round from SoftBank early last year.

PropTiger raised $5 million in 2012 from SAIF Partners and Accel Partners, which followed up with another $7 million commitment alongside Horizen Ventures. The company received $30 million in 2015 from its largest shareholder, News Corp, which is the majority owner of REA Group.

The joint entity will aim to offer a holistic experience to consumers, real estate developments, brokers and homeowners by leveraging the strengths of both companies, including Makaan, an industry peer acquired by PropTiger in 2015. It is expected to be the only player in India offering a full range of online and offline services, such as personalized search, site visits, legal and financial diligence, negotiations, property registration, home loans and post-sales service.

PropTiger also provides market intelligence, data analytics and consulting as well as 3D visualization and virtual reality applications. It claims to have completed transactions worth $1.5 billion since 2011. Housing.com says its monthly revenues have grown by 400% compared to last year, and that costs have decreased 70%.

By 2030, India is expected to be the third largest real estate market in the world, with the sector contributing to more than 15% of national GDP. The PropTiger-Housing.com deal is another example of consolidation in the online segment, following the purchase of CommonFloor by Quikr last year. Both companies have VC backers.

In November, Quikr went on to acquire Grabhouse, a competitor backed by Sequoia Capital and Kalaari Capital.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Real estate
• Technology
• Buyouts
• India
• Accel Partners
• SAIF Partners
• M&A
• TMT
• Softbank