Singapore-based online real estate portal PropertyGuru secured S$175m ($130m) yesterday from investors including media conglomerate Emtek.
Emtek, which is already a partner of PropertyGuru in Indonesia, provided the money alongside investment firm TPG and venture capital firm Square Peg Capital.
Scout24, an e-commerce subsidiary of telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom, exited PropertyGuru through the transaction, having invested S$60m in 2012 according to PropertyGuru’s website.
Representatives from the investment consortium are set to join PropertyGuru’s board of directors once the deal closes later this month.
Founded in 2006, PropertyGuru runs an online portal it claims is used by more than 11 million buyers across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The funding will be used to support innovation and marketing as the company expands in Southeast Asia.
Jay Watcher, group commissioner of Emtek, said: “Consistent with Emtek’s focus of investing in technologies that shape businesses and the broader society and where it can leverage its media expertise, this investment in PropertyGuru presents a prime opportunity for us to deepen our exposure to the online classified’s business.
“Our investment is aimed at fast-tracking PropertyGuru’s plans to innovate ahead of market needs and extend its leadership in the property space.”
Apart from Scout24’s 2012 investment, the only equity funding previously revealed by PropertyGuru was an undisclosed amount of series A capital provided by Tigris Capital, Finn Evdemon Capital Partners, Upstream Ventures and Steven Diggle, the manager of hedge fund ArtTradis, in 2008