PropertyGuru lands $220M from KKR and TPG to conquer Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia’s leading property listing company PropertyGuru is making great strides across the region as it secures a fresh investment of SG$300 million ($220 million), it announced this week.

The proceeds, financed by existing investors KKR and TPG, both buyout titans, will fuel PropertyGuru’s already ambitious push across its main market Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, where it operates country-specific real estate portals.

The private funding arrived almost a year after the online realtor pulled its plan to list on the Australian Stock Exchange. The company, launched in 2007, was reportedly aiming to raise up to $275 million at the time. And it has been nearly two years since the firm raised $144 million from KKR.

Growth has been encouraging for PropertyGuru in 2019, with a 24% year-over-year revenue growth that beat its own forecasts. The company calls itself Southeast Asia’s largest player, but it’s up against some formidable opponents, including a joint venture set up by close rivals 99.co and iProperty last year. 99.co is itself backed by prominent investors like Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Sequoia Capital and East Ventures.

Online realtors have been making aggressive expansion in Southeast Asia as the region becomes an attractive destination for real estate investors who want to tap the region’s relatively low investment threshold and high rental yield. Many come from neighboring China, which has reined in property speculation in recent years.

PropertyGuru has kept itself busy in 2020 so far, launching a mortgage marketplace in Singapore and a virtual walkthrough feature for property developers as well as seekers at a time when traveling is unsafe or unattainable. Every month, 24.5 million property seekers use the company’s various products to find homes, which number 2.7 million across the region at the time of its latest funding news.

“Our strong financial performance over the last few years has enabled us to invest aggressively and smartly, to build what is today an integrated and differentiated technology platform that caters to the unique opportunities in Southeast Asian markets,” chief executive Hari V. Krishnan said in a statement.