Housing.com the online real-estate portal is planning to raise aboutRs 220 crore ($35 million) in its fresh round of funding from Japan’s Softbank. By this deal SoftBank becomes the company’s largest investor and is currently valued at about Rs 2,260. Housing which was valued at Rs 1,500 crore in December 2014 at its last round of fund raising also counts Nexus Venture Partners and Helion Ventures as its early investors.
Jason Kothari, the chief business officer of Housing.com proposed that they are focusing mainly on their current investor which is the Softbank and not going to any third party for investors. He also added that their current investors are very positive in the way the company is progressing and they themselves have asked the company not go to any other third-party investors. Kothari has joined the company last September. He has been assigned with the task of increasing the efficiency of the three year-old startup which is through a prolonged period of management revolution which resulted in evacuation of its then chief executive officer Rahul Yadav in July.
This real estate portal is now focusing mainly on generating revenue by building an advertisement-based business. The company also requires capital to expand themselves in four new business areas which includes commercial real estate, designing, software development and due-diligence on the ground.
Recently Housing.com has also appointed Mani Rangarajan as its Chief Finance Officer. The company is now controlled by SoftBank which holds 32% stake in Housing. An executive committee which is led by Jonathan Bullock, a SoftBank executive controls the finances and operations of the company. Housing.com which competes with Common Floor, 99Acres, and Magic Brickshas attracted more than $120 million (Rs 760 crore) in its latest round of funding.
