Two of India’s leading real estate providers announced that they would merge to become the largest online real estate services company in the country. PropTiger and Housing.com will merge, and Dhruv Agarwala, co-founder and CEO of PropTiger, will serve as CEO of the joint entity.
REA Group will invest $50 million (U.S. dollars) into the company as part of the deal. News Corp. — the largest shareholder of PropTiger and the owner/operator of realtor.com in the United States — also owns 61.6 percent of REA Group.
“Our investments in PropTiger, REA Group and Move, Inc. are testimony to our faith in the potential of the global digital real estate market, of which we are now the largest player,” said News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson in a statement.
“With 1.2 billion people and a rapidly growing economy and middle class, India’s future as a real estate powerhouse is exceptionally bright, and we’re proud to be a part of this expanding sector.”
PropTiger’s CEO Dhruv Agarwala said he was “excited” about the merger, and noted the partnership would allow the company to better serve the growing Indian real estate market, which is poised to become the 3rd largest by 2030.
“The deal is a continuation of our efforts to bring best in class services to consumers and create a unified technology-driven platform that is capable of serving all needs of consumers, developers and brokers with respect to buying selling and renting of homes,” said Agarwala.
“Housing has established itself as a formidable online brand and we admire its consumer centric product innovation.”
Besides the merger, Housing.com is facing another transition with current CEO Jason Kothari announcing his departure from the company.
“I am proud of the exceptional progress the Housing team and investors have achieved together in the past 18 months. Housing.com’s partnership with PropTiger is the next transformational step to realize our vision of becoming a full-service online-to-offline real estate services company,” Kothari said in a press release.
“Housing.com and PropTiger share similar values — to provide trust, transparency and simplicity to the home buying journey. The joint entity will be well-positioned to establish market leadership in a large and rapidly changing marketplace.”
“As I move on to my next opportunity, I am glad to leave behind a strong foundation.”