Online real-estate discovery platform CommonFloor.com has now raised a fresh, undisclosed amount of funding from Google’s investment arm, Google Capital. This is Google Capital’s third investment in Asia within less than a year of its inception.
CommonFloor just yesterday acqui-hired the team behind secret college gossip-chatting app Bafky. This latest investment marks Google Capital’s 10th investment since it was founded in February last year. Interestingly, 30% of these investments have come into Asia.
India’s online real-estate sector has seen a huge boom in the recent past. American media giant NewsCorp recently infused a staggering $30 Million into PropTiger.com whereas SoftBank’s India love continued when it led an astounding $90 Million round into Housing.com
This investment comes at an exciting time for the online real estate sector in India, fueled by the Indian Government’s goal of providing Housing for All by 2022. To achieve this, the Government is allocating a budget of INR 4,000 crore for affordable housing, introducing incentives for infrastructure financing by the RBI. It has lowered interest rates on home loans, established a framework for REITs and, most recently, relaxed FDI norms in the construction sector.
Sumit Jain, Co- founder and CEO at CommonFloor.com said
This investment shows that Google Capital believes in CommonFloor and our vision to transform the real estate market in India. We look forward to drawing on the technical and operational expertise of Google Capital’s partners and advisers as we continue to scale our business.
David Lawee, Partner at Google Capital said,
The online real estate market in India is poised for tremendous growth, which is why we’re excited to work closely with CommonFloor’s excellent team in the months and years ahead
Prior to Google Capitals’s investment, CommonFloor had already raised $47.9 million from Tiger Global and Accel Partners. This fresh investment into CommonFloor marks yet another positive sign for start-ups in India, where raising Venture funding for post-seed stage start-ups is an uphill task.
Though the amount remains undisclosed, various media reports have pegged the amount in the range of $12 Million to $15 Million. Times of India has also reported that a Google Capital member will take up a board seat. We have contacted CommonFloor for the same and will update you once we get a reply.
