Online classifieds platform Quikr has made an acquisition of a Chennai-based real estate platform India Property Online. This lifts India’s largest classifieds platform, Quikr, to firm up its strategy of building transactions on top of classifieds.
Backed by leading VC fund Bertelsmann India Investments and Mayfield, India Property has a broad-based business model enabling customers to buy, sell and rent properties spread over 15 cities in India. They have listed 6 lakh properties and in excess of 8000 residential and other construction projects where the builder’s credentials are verified for the benefit of the customers. Solutions in property search, diligence, financing, and transactions are its strengths. It has its presence more in the Southern states.
“India Property is one of the earliest full-stack online real estate businesses. We have focused on the South Indian market and built a comprehensive solution suite for buyers and sellers with several transaction enablers. We have demonstrated monetization around these products and will now be able to offer them across Quikr’s real estate base,” Ganesh Vasudevan, CEO, India Property Online Private Limited said in a statement.
From Quikr’s perspective it already has an established property vertical on its platform contributing a good 35% to its overall revenue and is profit-making too. A co-living business to offer shared rentals to millennials, and a brokerage business for home buying are the two models of business it is eyeing under the heads QuikrHomes and Commonfloor.
Pranay Chulet, Founder and CEO, Quikr, said, “With $180B market potential, Indian real estate is one of the largest sectors of the economy. Since verticalization of our business, we have looked at both organic and inorganic ways to go deeper in this strategically important category. The strong base of India Property in Southern states and its full-stack model will help us grow our transaction business while also adding to our classifieds base.”
Quikr is the largest player in the country with over 70,000 tenants as reported last month. The full potential of the real estate sector in India is seen at around $180 billion. The investors of India Property have also welcomed the joining of hands of Quikr and India Property.
Quikr’s investors include Tiger Global Management, Kinnevik, Warburg Pincus, Matrix Partners India, Norwest Venture Partners, NGP Capital, Steadview Capital, Omidyar Network etc.