HomeShikari.com,
a real estate marketplace owned and operated by Bangalore-based business group
TTK Services Pvt Ltd, is in talks with a few Indian VC investors to raise up to
Rs. 30 crore ($ 50 lakh) to expand to 7-8 cities in the next couple of years.
Mr. P. Sunder, co-founder and CEO,
HomeShikari.com said, “We are in serious
talks and a deal is nearing closure. Most of the funds will be used primarily
for marketing. A portion will also be used to build the brand besides educating
and creating awareness among the consumers in the cities we are planning to
launch. Some part of the capital will also be used to strengthen our technology
and data play”
The
startup was founded in November 2011 by Mr. Sunder and Mr. T.T. Venkatesh
(CIO). Mr. Sunder, who holds a bachelor
degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA from Bharathiar University (Tamil
Nadu), had also co-founded Bharatmail service in 1999 (now YourManInIndia). His
partner Mr. Venkatesh holds a BA degree in Theatre and Mathematics from Cornell
University in New York.
A
real-estate marketplace, HomeShikari claims it provides a viable alternative
for sellers and renters to list their properties on its portal without getting
cannibalised by a flood of broker posts. It is focused on end consumers and
aims to empower all kinds of searchers - people who want to buy, resale or /
rent properties.
The
compnay claims it follows a verified listing model where its team goes and
visits the property for sale / rental, takes pictures & videos, measures
the property, does an accurate floor plan and uploads all the information on
the portal. These listings go with a verified symbol which is an assurance to
the searcher that what he is seeing on the website is what he will get, if he
physically visits the property.
According
to the co-founder, this will allow consumers to pre-screen properties and then
visit only those that meet their requirements. “We also give refund to our
customers when they delist their properties. This is to ensure our site has
only pertinent and fresh listings all the time,” noted Mr. Sunder, who is also
managing director at TTK Services.
According
to him, HomeShikari.com has aboutd 800 active listings on its site from
individual consumers and 30,000 units available for sale from builders. Now,,
it has more than 125 paid builders on its portal. Last year alone, about 3,000
customers used its listing and VAS services on a paid basis. The firm is now
looking to be present in all major cities soon, with Mumbai & Delhi getting
first priority.
“We see
massive opportunities in the real estate information and services space,
because there is far greater potential for disruptive models in an opaque
market like India. A Zillow or a Trulia in a very developed and mature market
like the US commands valuations that are 10x or 20x higher than a traditional
real estate firm there,” explained Mr. Sunder.
Talking
about the revenue model, Mr. Sunder said, “We generate revenue through listings
from individuals and builders as well as through services like property tax
payment & rental agreement assistance etc. We believe that to be a
significant player, you need to leverage the online presence to reach out to
your consumers more efficiently while at the same at the lowest cost. You will
also need to leverage technology to scale up and offline strength to be able to
make transactions easy and more trustworthy. That’s the only way you can be
there for a consumer at all times when it comes to real estate matters.”
HomeShikari
generated very small revenues last year, said Mr. Sunder. “We are aiming for
much higher revenues for this fiscal, and aiming for a 400-500 per cent
increase in FY15. Our long-term vision is to reach a top-line in the range of
Rs. 200 core to Rs. 250 core in 5 years. We are operationally breaking even in
Bangalore & we should be completely profitable in the city in a year’s
time,” Mr. Sunder also noted.
With a
strong 60 member team, the firm is directly competing primarily with
Housing.com, a Nexus Venture Partners-backed real estate portal which is
already present in 8 major cities. “Housing is probably the closest to our
model. While we are in direct competition in the listing space and in terms of
using technology for better analytics, we are vastly different in terms of the
on-ground expertise. We are a complete one-stop shop or marketplace for real
estate, not merely a portal,” he added.
In India,
real estate listing is a highly competitive market. There are different kinds
of sites, such as advertising (real estate classifieds) portals and brokerage
portals, which don’t charge consumers but get their commission from builders,
while the former acts as a marketing platform for builders & brokers.
Some of
the other players in this segment are Tiger Global & Accel Partners-backed
CommonFloor.com, Canaan partners and Mayfield Fund-backed IndiaProperty.com,
and InfoEdge’s 99acres.com. This space is poised for further growth in the
coming years, as major cities including Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai are already
witnessing a huge migration of job seekers, especially in the IT sector, from
other parts of the country.
For Media
Contact
HomeShikari
nishita
Email:
nishita@homeshikari.com
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