PropTiger, the NewsCorp backed real-estate listing websites, has today announced the acquisition of rival platform Makaan.com. Financials related to the deal haven’t been churned out.
Interestingly, Makaan.com is a much older platform as compared to PropTiger, and ruled the online property listing market while this was still a nascent field. However, acquisition of older firms by newer, digital startups has started to become a trend these days.
As per the current acquisition deal, PropTiger will continue to operate Makaan.com as a separate entity. The transaction will bring Makaan.com and PropTiger.com platforms together, with an aim to create India’s only truly comprehensive online real-estate platform. Anupam Mittal, the founder of Makaan.com will be on the board of the company and Aditya Verma, co-founder of Makaan.com, will continue to act as the Chief Executive.
Dhruv Agarwala, Co-founder & CEO at Proptiger.com says,
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
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.
Makaan.com was founded in 2007 by Anupam Mittal and Aditya Verma with an aim to help people make wise and profitable decisions regarding buying, selling, renting and leasing of properties in India and key global geographies.
Talking about the transaction, Mittal said,
This transaction will help shape the future of the real estate ecosystem in India. During the past few years, India’s home-buyers have embraced digital platforms in a big way. Starting by creating the first and only full-stack property solution, the combination of Makaan.com and PropTiger.com is set to accelerate customer-focused innovations dramatically.
Makaan.com 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 currently the fastest growing dimension in India’s surging digital story. However, most of Makaan’s traffic and user-base has been heavily taken away by new-age companies like PropTiger and Housing.
This acquisition marks PropTiger’s second transaction within a month. The startup had earlier acquired Interactive digital design startup OOBI for an undisclosed amount.
PropTiger came into news in November last year, when U.S. media giant NewsCorp marked its entry into India;s start-up ecosystem, with a $30 Million debut investment into PropTiger. NewsCorp owns 25% in Proptiger after that deal.
