Traditionally,
property listing sites are as drab as telephone directories. They offer huge databases and you simply activate a few filters like type of property, location and budget, and the information gathering is done. The next task is more gruelling, though. One must browse through the list of properties that has popped up post-search, check out if the information is authentic, and get in touch with owners, brokers and property developers to close a deal. In fact, the data burst on property sites is the actual pain point, says an industry expert. But some young
start-ups and not-so-young companies are doing things a bit differently, to take the long hours and the guesswork out of the house-hunting process. Check out these 5 Indian sites that stand out because of their innovative (and tech-dependent) approach.
Housing – credibility is the key: Set up by a group from IIT Bombay, this one-year-old start-up has a penchant for innovation. Housing started by listing the apartments for rent in Mumbai. But it has seen some fast growth and currently operates in 7 cities – also listing flats for sale. Its USP is data curation as an in-house data collection team makes sure that every apartment is geo-coded and every bit of information is genuine (you get all the essentials such as photographs, rent amount, locality rating and amenities available while some of the properties up there are the site’s exclusive). Housing has recently introduced a ‘land classifieds’ section that will allow farmers and villagers to list and sell their land assets. A bold move from an urban firm, especially as it wants to cover as many as 10,000 villages.
Funding: Housing has already reached break-even in Mumbai and raised $2.5 million from Nexus Venture Partners besides securing two rounds of angel funding from several investors.
Flat.to – niche offering: Another start-up from Mumbai, set up in April 2013 by Gaurav Munjal, but this one only caters to students looking for apartments, room-mates or PG accommodations in and around their educational institutions. Some featured colleges are already up on the site and one can check out what all they offer (from nearby flats to brokers and flat owners, it seems). Otherwise, you can check in and input your college name, and the company will get back with relevant information. After Mumbai, the start-up will expand its operations in other university cities like Pune and Bangalore.
Funding: Till date, Flat.to has raised undisclosed angel funding from Aakrit Vaish, director of the mobile app analytics firm Flurry India.
PropTiger – mid-market focus paying dividends: Started in 2011 by Dhruv Agarwala, Kartik Varma and Prashan Agarwal (Dhruv and Kartik are Harvard alumni and co-founders of iTrust Financial Advisors which they sold to the Karvy Group), this start-up is well on its way to become really big. But unlike other portals, this company is marketing new residential developments and targeting first-time home-buyers in the mid-market segment. PropTiger has a hybrid (online-offline) business platform in place and handholds potential customers by offering a whole range of value-added services – right from sending you apartment options to organising site visits, affordability analysis and facilitating home loans. No wonder the firm’s revenues are soaring and it claims to have crossed Rs 2,500 crore in GMV (gross value of the properties sold).
Funding: The traction has been good so far and VC firms Accel Partners and SAIF Partners have invested $5 million in Series A round for the next phase of growth. Earlier, PropTiger raised an undisclosed round from a number of HNIs.
CommonFloor.com – hi-tech apps help: Not exactly a young company but this six-year-old portal needs a mention here as it has some hi-tech offerings that users love. The firm has launched an augmented reality-based property search app called CommonFloor Real Estate, which also enables GPS-based map search and helps extend all its portal services on to a mobile phone. As for AR search, a user has to input her property criteria and point the phone in any direction. The app will then track the relevant assets within a certain distance. The Bangalore-based firm also combines online property search with a community management platform.
Funding: Founded by Sumit Jain, Lalit Mangal and Vikas Malpani, the firm has recently raised a Series C funding of $7.5 million from existing investors Accel Partners and Tiger Global Management. Accel and Tiger invested in the firm in Series A and B as well, but the amounts were not disclosed.
Metroplots – apps and new features make it sticky: Started by Biju Ashokan in 2009, this Chennai-based firm operates a bit like PropTiger and focuses on new residential and commercial developments. The site offers some value-added services such as comparison tool, expert advice, loan facilitation, referral (when you refer a friend and she makes a purchase, you get a commission on the total value of that asset), group deal/discount and post-sales help. Metroplots has apps for both Android and iOS platforms, and could be adding more channels like property rental and reselling.
Funding: Metroplots has already raised two rounds of angel funding and secured under $1 million in the second round. It is now looking to raise close to $2 million for more features and pan-India expansion.
