China-based real estate platform operator Beike Zhaofang received roughly $2.41bn in a series D-plus round which featured included telecoms and internet conglomerate SoftBank, which contributed $1bn, as well as internet group Tencent. Other participants included real estate platform hedge fund manager Hillhouse Capital and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China.The round reportedly valued Beike at slightly more than $14bn.
Launched in 2017 by Lianjia and known as Ke.com, Beike has developed an online platform which provides users with access to apartments for rent that span almost 100 Chinese cities. The platform uses 3D modelling technology to enhance the online viewing experience and is looking to build a 200 million-strong customer base spanning some 300 Chinese cities. It also offers services such as interior decoration, property management and real estate financing.
Beike is part of the broader real estate tech space which has received much attention from corporates around the globe, as the historical bar chart from GCV Analytics illustrates. The number of corporate-backed rounds in this space has more than doubled, increasing from 18 in 2014 up to 53 last year. The amounts of estimated total capital deployed in those rounds has also seen much growth – from $650 in 2014 up to nearly $5.43bn in 2019 (eight times over), which clearly shows that valuations have grown rather steeply in this period.
