Realty portal PropTiger set to buy rival Housing

Bengaluru: Online realty portal Housing is in advance stages of discussions with rival firm

PropTiger

for a sale, sources in the know of the deal said.

Elara

Technologies, which owns and runs PropTiger, is expected to get a fund infusion of $100-120 million from existing investor New Corp and Australia’s REA Group, a person privy to the matter told TOI. REA Group, a global online real estate advertising company, is majority owned by

News Corp

Australia, a subsidiary of News Corp.

Mumbai-based Housing has been in talks for a sale for over a year but a definitive agreement is still to be signed. Sources said an announcement of the merger and the financing from News Corp is expected over the next few days. Housing CEO Jason Kothari told TOI, “We have been looking at the possibility of a merger for a while now but as we speak nothing has been completed,” he said. Both News Corp and PropTiger refused to comment. In September last year, both the online portals had struck a partnership for revenue-sharing agreement to use each other’s core capabilities. This was being seen as a precursor to an imminent marriage between the two.

Sources said Kothari is expected to leave the SoftBank-backed Housing after the completion of the sale. He was brought in following the sacking of Housing co-founder and chief executive Rahul Yadav in 2015, after a fallout of his public spat with the company’s investors. Once touted as the hottest campus startup, Housing’s valuation has taken a significant beating due to the upheaval in the company.

The company’s peak valuation was about $220-250 million at the end of 2014 when it raised $90 million led by SoftBank, but is unlikely to fetch returns after the deal with PropTiger. Housing had to shut multiple businesses, including listings and rentals, at the end of 2015.

In December last year, the company said it was planning to re-enter the rental business by early 2017. Housing’s last fund raise took place about a year ago when SoftBank, which is the largest investor in the firm, infused Rs 100 crore as a lifeline. In total, it has raised over $130 million so far from investors, including Helion Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Falcon Edge, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s Apoletto Holdings, among others.


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