Indian online-to-offline real estate transaction player Square Yards has raised $10 million in a part debt-part equity round from L’Occitane CEO Andre Hoffman and the family office of Kanpur-based Lohia Group.
In October 2016, the startup announced it had crossed $USD 1 billion in terms of the total value of properties sold through its platform, selling a cumulative 9 million square feet of property from 350+ developers to more than 8,500 customers worldwide.
The company’s latest financing comes through convertible notes that were issued for a fixed term at a predetermined coupon rate. Investors will have the option to convert their debt portion into equity (at a discount) when the company raises its next round of funding.
According to The Economic Times, the investment comes barely two months after Square Yards raised $12 million in an equity round from the private equity arm of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group as reported by ET in November. The Reliance Group, however, did not participate in the latest round. With this, the total amount raised by the firm sits at about $33 million.
The three year-old company is looking to accelerate its expansion into newer international geographies as well as build a working capital war chest as it charts an aggressive growth strategy for 2017.
“The idea is to have working capital for a 12-15 month period to support our growth rate,“ Tanuj Shori, CEO of Square Yards, told ET. The company claims it is already EBITDA positive & profitable. “The challenge for Square Yards is the manpower-intensive nature of real estate brokerage. But I am very impres sed by their approach to residential realty brokerage,“ said Amit Lohia, director at Lohia Group.
