Housing.com, an India-based real estate listings portal backed by telecommunications group SoftBank, has been acquired by competitor PropTiger in an all-share deal, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday.
Housing.com was valued at $70m to $75m in the deal while PropTiger was valued at $200m to $210m. The deal follows a six month endeavour by Housing.com’s owner Locon Solutions and its lead investor SoftBank to find a suitable buyer.
The merged company has also received a $50m investment from Rea Group, a real estate advertising company owned by mass media conglomerate News Corp, and $5m from SoftBank.
Housing.com’s existing shareholders will receive a stake in PropTiger’s Singapore-based parent Elara Technologies, though venture capital firm Horizon Ventures, an investor in PropTiger, is expected to exit.
PropTiger will retain the Housing.com brand and staff. Jason Kothari, chief executive of Housing.com, has left the company with immediate effect, though he will stay on as an adviser through the end of February 2017.
PropTiger will however scale back some of its activities, including that of subsidiary Makaan, which is a direct competitor to Housing.com. The company will offer existing clients the option of migrating their data to Housing.com.
SoftBank led a $90m round for Housing.com in late 2014, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of semiconductor technology producer Qualcomm, Falcon Edge, DST Global, Helion Venture Partners and Nexus Venture Partners.
SoftBank subsequently invested $14.8m in Housing.com in January 2016, reportedly bringing the company’s total funding to $169m, and provided an extra $5m in bridge funding in November 2016. Qualcomm Ventures had previously supported a $19m round in mid-2014 alongside Nexus and Helion.
PropTiger’s latest funding round was closed in 2015, when News Corp increased its stake in the company to 30%. SoftBank had participated in its $2m seed round in 2011 alongside Horizon Ventures and various angel investors.
PropTiger raised $5m in a 2012 series A round and $37m in a series B round led by News Corp in 2014, the latter deal including Horizon and Accel Partners.