PropTiger and Makaan break the compound wall, gear up for bigger battles

The online real estate sector is as hot as the food tech industry in India right now. The old players like MagicBricks, 99Acres, etc. were disrupted by the likes of Housing, Commonfloor and then many new entrants have come in with different models. The space is at a consolidation phase right now and a step in this direction, PropTiger.com and Makaan have joined hands. Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd., which owns PropTiger.com, a digital real estate marketing and transactions services provider, has entered into a transaction with Makaan.com Private Limited, owner of Makaan.com, an online property listings and classifieds player.

The statement released mentioned that the combination will create India’s only comprehensive ‘classifieds to transactions’ one-stop digital real estate platform. PropTiger.com currently provides a complete home buying experience to home buyers in India, starting with property search and site visits to home loan advice and assistance in the final registration of property. Since 2011, some 12,000 homes worth US$ 1.2 billion have been purchased through the PropTiger.com platform. It has a team of over 500 people including engineers, product experts and property advisors in eight major Indian cities. PropTiger.com also provides real estate consulting and data services to institutions, such as real estate developers, private equity investors and banks.

On the other side, Makaan.com was founded in 2007, and is one of the early real estate marketplaces for property buying, selling and renting, offering a diverse array of services for home owners & buyers, investors, property brokers and real estate developers. It has around 200,000 active property listings and relationships with 40,000 brokers in 50 Indian cities. Some 40% of Makaan.com’s traffic comes from mobile, which is the fastest growing gateway to Internet for users in India.

And the two have now come together. The exact terms of the deal haven't been revealed. “Together, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com will provide home buyers with a powerful online real estate platform to guide them through the early stages of home search and identification and all the way until they have the keys to their dream home,” said Dhruv Agarwala, Co-founder & CEO, PropTiger.com. (read more)

Earlier this month, PropTiger.com announced the acquisition of Bangalore-based Out of Box Interaction (OoBI), a pioneering digital interaction design company that specializes in displaying real estate projects in an efficient and immersive way. In November 2014, global media, book publishing and digital real estate services company News Corp took a 25% stake in Elara. In Australia, News Corp is 61.6% owner of REA, and in the United States, it owns Move, Inc., which runs Realtor.com. News Corp’s portfolio has played an important role in the newspaper and publishing arena in India through its Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins Publishers businesses.

Elara’s other major investors include SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Horizon Ventures. And Makaan.com was founded within People Group by entrepreneur and investor Anupam Mittal, whose pioneering digital ventures in India also include the matchmaking site Shaadi.com and the mobile content & commerce company Mauj Mobile.

“In addition to being able to combine Makaan.com listings and PropTiger.com home buying services, we are delighted we can also now tap Anupam’s proven expertise in profitably engaging digital audiences in India,” said Raju Narisetti, Senior Vice President, Strategy, for News Corp, who chairs Elara’s Singapore-based board.

Website: Proptiger