UrbanAce’s holistic path to buying, selling property

• Offers an O2O platform for users to buy and sells house as well as connect to agents
• Has generated revenue of US$22 mil in two years of operations

INDONESIA based proptech startup UrbanAce (PT Puncak Properti Solusindo), which integrates offline and online (O2O) businesses, is available as a platform for property agents and individual customers.

UrbanAce also provides a feature which allows customers and property agents to manage a customer's property journey start purchase, interior decor, rental, and sale through its website.

The presence of UrbanAce in the Indonesian property sector is driven by changing consumers, the digital era and technology.

“We also see a lack of transparency in terms of price, services, and agents’ experience. We aim to give big opportunities so property agents can help customers to buy and manage the property they need,” says UrbanAce founder and chief executive officer Robby Wuisan (pic).

He says that in the Indonesian property sector, there are many separate business models and the challenge is to combine them through their platform.

“Offline experiences are still necessary in the property industry. We utilise technology to make is easier for consumers and we provide holistic services.”

Users are allowed to list their property on the website. After 48 hours, customer services will contact users and the whole process will be handled by UrbanAce’s listed agents who are known as  UrbanAce Ambassadors.

Other than using technology to connect agents and consumers, the company also runs UrbanAce Academy which offers special training to agents. They will receive commissions based on their performance.

“The work of an UrbanAce Ambassador goes beyond selling and purchasing. They are committed to give their best to the consumer. Thus, we built UrbanAce Academy reward those who have integrity and perform well. Agents who achieve their target based on consumer feedback and hard work have to be appreciated.”

UrbanAce started operations in 2016 and has reached a revenue of US$22 million with 300 units of housing sold. It has 300 agents as of 2018.

Ronny says that 80% of the units sold were landed residential property and the other 20% were apartments.

“Now we are still operating in the Greater Jakarta area (JaBoDeTBek) where in Jakarta itself, more people are purchasing apartment units because of the rise in landed house prices.”

He admits that the company faces challenges in standardising its services and ways in which to manage and train their agents.

When asked about competition, Ronny says that he does not see others as competitors but is instead open to collaborating to solve problems.

The startup works closely with various property developers. For interior and furnishing, UrbanAce has partnered with interior designers, Fabelio and Dizen.

UrbanAce has closed two rounds of funding since August 2016. Its current funding stage is at seed level which was received in February 2018 from undisclosed investors.

The funding will be used in recruitment and tech development. The company is also developing its mobile app and plans to expand to Surabaya this year and to another 20 cities soon.

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