‘LinkedIn for property,’ Soho launches in Singapore

By Digital News Asia October 27, 2017

Raises US$1 million capital in May from investors, including the Hub Ventures Fund
To focus on real estate markets in Singapore and Australia for now

‘LinkedIn for property,’ Soho launches in Singapore

SOHO, a property discovery and management app that is building an online property network, has launched in Singapore, offering home owners, buyers, renters and property agents a new way to buy, sell and manage properties.

Positioned as the ‘LinkedIn for Property,’ Soho aims to overcome the limitations of the traditional property market by providing a network to bring more properties online to be searched and discovered at any time by potential buyers and renters.

Using the app, owners and agents can create and manage their property profiles, along with everything related to their property (financials, bills, statements and investment performance).

There’s a live chat function, allowing users to talk in real-time to prospective buyers, estate agents, owners or tenants.

Soho was founded by Australian serial entrepreneur Jonathan Lui (pic, above), who had the idea when he and his wife were selling their home in Sydney after deciding to relocate to Singapore.

“The whole process of buying and selling a property in Singapore is still very traditional and restricted, said Lui.

"Today, if you want to buy a property, you'd have to wait for it to come onto the market, or go and knock on the door and get in touch with the owner. In fact, buyers today can only buy from what they see, and what happens to be on the market at that point in time, rather than buying the dream home they actually want.”

With its headquarters in Singapore, Soho has already raised US$1 million (RM4.23 million) capital in May 2017 from investors, including the Hub Ventures Fund, an early-stage investment company launched by Impact Hub Singapore. (US$1 = RM4.23)

The company plans to focus on real estate markets in Singapore and Australia, with expansion into other markets planned for 2018.

"Our short-term goal is to get as many properties onto the network as possible, moving away from dated classifieds business models, to build a more robust property ecosystem to benefit agents, owners, tenants and buyers”, said Lui.

‘LinkedIn for property,’ Soho launches in Singapore

The Singapore residential property market is worth approximately US$900 billion but these assets are essentially offline/uncontactable until they go through all the hurdles to become ‘on-the-market.’

Soho solves this problem by bringing more properties online and allowing interested parties to make a 'digital door knock’ to start a conversation at any time.

Users can also manage their properties privately or publicly, with the latter being like LinkedIn’s approach of hosting your professional CV online to reach potential employers, while also being able to advertise properties as ‘For Sale/Auction’ or ‘For Rent’ for free on Soho’s marketplace.

Lui brings a wealth of experience to Soho, having co-founded one of Australia-based startup Airtasker.com in 2012, a peer to peer marketplace for outsourcing everyday tasks, which raised over US$60 million in funding and is generating over U$80 million annual transactions with a 1.5 million+ user base.

Soho is available on Android and iOS and can be downloaded at sohoapp.com