According to a report in Business Standard, Indiaproperty.com has raised $7 million from Canaan Partners and Mayfield Fund. The article quoted the firm’s CEO Ganesh Vasudevan as saying that the money was committed in 2012, but came in only after the separation from Matrimony.com was completed a few weeks ago.
Vasudevan added, that the firm is planning to raise its Series B round of $10-12 million for further expansion. Existing investors Mayfield Fund and Canaan Partners may also participate in the round, he also said that Indiaproperty intends to use the $10-12 million in series-B funding to improve technology and support marketing initiatives.
Vasudevan stated that, the company has a strong base in the southern and western regions and the fund-raising would help the company expand and strengthen its brand in North. He claimed Indiaproperty.com accounted for 35 per cent share of the market (the number of paid builders registered in online portals), while in the South and West, it was the market leader. The portal had three million salaried and self-employed registered users in the age group of 28-55 years, he said.
Currently, the real estate sector spent about Rs 5,000 crore on advertisements, of which only two per cent was towards advertising through online media, he said, adding, “With the cost of construction rising, real estate players are looking at ways to control costs and one of the options they are considering is cutting on advertisements.”
“We expect from the current two per cent, online advertisement would grow to 10 per cent in two to three years, and we need to gear up to meet the growth,” said Vasudevan.
Currently, the cost-per-response in print (main liners) was Rs 6,000-7,000, while in the online segment, it was Rs 400-500, he said. Portals such as Indiaproperty.com also offered other value-added service, including legal advice, arranging bank loans and insurance cover and helping to close transactions, albeit at additional costs, he added.
Last year, private equity (PE) investments in online service companies rose to $599.99 million from $593.6 million in 2011; the number of deals rose from 82 to 93. So far this year, PE investors have invested $114.3 million through 20 deals, according to Venture Intelligence data.
The original article about Indiaproperty can be found on Business Standard by clicking here.
