Gurgaon-headquartered real estate advisory and brokerage firm Square Yards Consulting Pvt Ltd has raised $6 million (Rs 32 crore) in pre-Series A round of funding from a clutch of unnamed investors, the company said, adding that it was valued in the $40-50 million bracket.
The company did not disclose the name of the investors but said they are from Singapore and Hong Kong and hold senior level positions with leading asset management and private equity houses.
“Currently, we are in the process of creating our own e-commerce portal to assist the intelligent Indian investor, both foreign and domestic, about real estate in considerably less time. Our investors are extremely happy with our performance and we will be using the money to expand our business further in terms of our presence in newer geographies, using advance technologies,” said Tanuj Shori, founder of Square Yard.
Founded in 2013 by husband wife duo Tanuj Shori and Kanika Gupta, the startup offers solution for property related needs from residential projects to student accommodations and from hotel projects to factories and mall re-development.
Shori is an IIM Lucknow graduate with around a decade of experience in capital markets- equities business. He started his career with short stint at Standard Chartered Bank and moved in as an analyst with Lehman Brothers. After the iconic investment bank went bankrupt in 2008 he moved on Nomura, which acquired part of the assets of Lehman Brothers.
He was serving as an executive director (equities) at Nomura before starting Square Yard.
Kanika has worked across ICICI Bank, Tata Asset Management besides entertainment & event management industry before venturing into Square Yards.
“With the funding amount, we are aiming at a share of 15 per cent of India’s primary residential real estate market by the end of 2017. Also, we plan to scale-up our operations across multiple distribution platforms, including e-commerce," Shori said.
Square Yards says it has partnered with around 500 tier A developers globally to help them market their assets. The company claims that it has facilitated real estate transactions to the tune of $250 million in India and $50 million for global real estate in the first year of its operations.
The startup which has a presence in the UAE, Singapore, UK, Hong Kong and USA, said it clocked revenues of Rs 38 crore in its first year of operations.
