SoftBank-backed Housing.com is paying $2 million to acquire Bangalore-based HomeBuy360, a sales lifecycle management platform that connects developers, agents and buyers.
The transaction makes Housing.com, which is owned by Mumbai-based Locon Solutions Pvt Ltd, the only online real estate listing platform in India to own a developer customer relationship management (CRM) company, as per a press statement.
“Developers are key stakeholders to drive efficiency in the Indian real estate sector. Our vision is that every developer uses HomeBuy360 to bring down their sales and operating costs. This will help in reduction of property prices eventually benefiting the consumers,” said Rishabh Gupta, interim CEO and COO of Housing.com.
The HomeBuy360 platform, which is owned by Sadanika Solutions Pvt Ltd, enables developers and agents to track inventory, managing customer relations and drive efficiencies in their sale operations, the statement said.
Rajat Kothari, founder and CEO, HomeBuy360, said, “The Indian real estate sector is witnessing tremendous growth and traction but it is still highly unorganised, posing significant challenges for the entire ecosystem. With less than 10 per cent of developers currently using CRM for their back-end and customer connect operations, we have a huge market opportunity ahead of us."
For Housing.com, the deal to buy HomeBuy360 is its third inorganic move this year.
In June, it had acquired real estate intelligence service firm RealtyBI for Rs 10 crore ($1.6 million) to enable customers assess fresh projects related risks.
Prior to that, Housing.com acquired discussion forum IREF (India Real Estate Forum) for Rs 2 crore.
It may be recalled that Housing.com had gone through several months of top-level turmoil concluding with the unceremonious exit of CEO Rahul Yadav in June. The company recently hired comics’ publisher Valiant Entertainment’s co-founder Jason Kothari as chief business officer.
An operating committee headed by Jonathan Bullock, a representative of the lead investor SoftBank, has been overseeing the company’s operations since the first week of May.
Housing.com competes with PropTiger in which News Corp—that acquired the parent of this website in March—holds a 30 per cent stake.