PropertyGuru acquires ePropertyTrack for undisclosed sum

• Plans for joint product development and expansion into new countries
• Allows PropertyGuru to offer higher-value services to real estate industry

SINGAPORE-headquartered PropertyGuru Group announced it has acquired ePropertyTrack, a new project sales and marketing company, for an undisclosed amount.
 
With this acquisition, PropertyGuru aims to expand its services portfolio by offering new project marketing services to real estate developers, marketing agencies and property agents, it said in a statement.
 
Post-acquisition, the ePropertyTrack teams in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore will be integrated into PropertyGuru’s local offices.
 
While both companies will continue to work independently in the near-term, there are plans underway for joint development of products and services and rollout of new projects regionally, PropertyGuru said in its statement.
 
“PropertyGuru’s market-leading position and expertise in South-East Asia will accelerate our expansion in the region,” said ePropertyTrack founder Kunal Bagga.
 
PropertyGuru said that ePropertyTrack covers over 90% of active new projects in Singapore, helping developers and agencies streamline the sales and marketing process of their new projects.
 
This includes real-time views on project reservations during launch, registration of interest management, inventory management, floorplans/ virtual tours/ photos/ video content management, promotion broadcasting, analytics reporting, and sharing of information to marketing agencies and agents.
 
ePropertyTrack's services also support real estate agencies and agents by providing a multimedia interactive sales tool, accessible on both desktop and mobile, which facilitates sales discussions with prospective buyers and bookings of units directly with the developer in real-time.
 
“Today, a growing number of top property developers and real estate agencies are using the ePropertyTrack service to market more than 500 new project launches in South-East Asia,” said PropertyGuru cofounder and chief executive officer Steve Melhuish (pic).
 
“There are immediate synergies to be had from this acquisition, which is in line with our regional agenda to capitalise on the South-East Asia property market potential, and our push for continued product innovation,” he added.
 
New projects play a key role in South-East Asia’s real estate markets with an estimated S$40 billion (about US$30 billion) of transactions occurring annually, PropertyGuru said, citing its own estimates as well those from AC Nielsen.
 
Historically, real estate developers and marketing agencies have not been able to easily coordinate their new project sales, PropertyGuru said.
 
This has been due to a lack of integrated inventory and marketing analytics. ePropertyTrack’s information-sharing platform has solved that as it helps developers and marketing agencies operate as one cohesive unit, it added.
 
Investment boost
 
The acquisition comes on the back of a recent S$175-million (US$129-million) investment in PropertyGuru by a consortium, which PropertyGuru claimed was the largest investment in the technology sector in South-East Asia this year.
 
The consortium comprised TPG, Emtek Group and Square Peg Capital. The investment was announced on June 9 and concluded on June 22.
 
Following that, PropertyGuru appointed four new directors to its board, including a new group chairman, as well as a new chairman for PropertyGuru Malaysia.
 
From TPG, partner and managing director Ganen Sarvananthan was appointed chairman of PropertyGuru Group while senior advisor Ali Redhauddin Muhriz was appointed chairman of PropertyGuru Malaysia.
 
Joining PropertyGuru cofounders Melhuish and Jani Rautiainen on the board are Square Peg Capital partner and cofounder Paul Bassat; Emtek Group commissioner Jay Wacher; and TPG’s David Gowdey.
 
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