To gear up for IPO, Zigbang acquires three startups

Zigbang, a real estate portal servicing South Korea, is now considered one of the next unicorn startups, valuing at more than $1 billion. Recently, Zigbang has raised even more capital, 160 billion won ($135.6 million), overtaking proptech startup, SugarHill.

With the new acquisition, Zigbang now has three startups under its wings, including real estate data firm Hogaeng NoNo and shared-housing company Woozoo.

The Korean proptech startup, which has mainly focused on offering price data of studio apartments or small rental houses, will likely be able to expand its operations in the commercial property sector as SugarHill operates the commercial office platform Nemo, which provides office and building information for private businesses and investors.

The latest move is thought to be linked to its rumored listing plans, and Zigbang CEO Ahn did not completely deny it.

“Nothing has been decided yet, but we will go public when we think we have achieved our goal of making significant changes in the existing property market,” Ahn said in a press conference held in Seoul.

He added that diversifying its current businesses and changing the traditional real estate landscape is the first priority for now.

To do that, Zigbang and the other three startups will try to increase their combined monthly active users from the current five million to 12 million by 2022 when Zigbang marks its 10th anniversary. Along the way, the company will also try to look out for other new members to grow.

Read more here

Join us November 12-15 for the Property Portal Watch Conference Madrid 2019.