Urbanmetry wins US$2mil pre-series A to grow proptech business

• Claims to use AI products to serve property, mortgage markets
• To assist homebuyers in making their mortgage commitment

Urbanmetry, an AI-driven city and property data company, announced it has closed a Pre-Series A round of US$2 million (RM8.37 million) led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.

[RM1 = US$0.239]

In a statement, the startup said the funding will be used for developing its intelligent data products and platforms to serve end consumers in the property and mortgage markets; and for building out its product, technology, data, and business development teams.

It said real estate is the largest asset class globally but yet like its brick-and-mortar nature, it is the hardest to fund.

In developing cities, the lack of reliable data compounds the issue, making mortgage underwriting particularly complex, risky, and as a by-product, expensive, it said.

To increase liquidity and affordability, there is a need for mortgage risks to be objectively quantified, fragmented, and traded and Urbanmetry is building a platform to deliver this much-needed functionality for the mortgage market, it claimed.

“For years, our engineers have been building in-house artificial intelligence and data-powered solutions to help banks, government, and property developers better quantify risks and opportunities in the real estate market.

“However, the data gap is detrimental to both key industry players and individual homeowners alike. Going forward, our team plans to push the technological envelope further to better fund homeowners and build sustainable cities for our shared future,” said Koh Cha-Ly, (pic) CEO of Urbanmetry.

Urbanmetry claimed to have over 150 corporate clients in the region including UEM Sunrise, Kuok Group Berhad, RHB Bank, Hong Leong Bank, and the World Bank. The company said has seen sustained growth over the pandemic and is profitable.

"Data-driven decision making is important in shaping the financing and construction of our cities. Unfortunately, data is scarce in the cities and markets that need it most.

"Tech startups such as Urbanmetry bridges the data gap that helps decision-makers navigate in the fast-changing markets such as Malaysia, Vietnam, and hopefully other developing countries globally," Dao Harrison, senior housing specialist of World Bank.

In addition to providing data and insight to institutional clients, Urbanmetry also offers products for the homeowner.

The company claimed to assist homebuyers in making their mortgage commitment, Urbanmetry has launched Nowcast, an AI-driven service that helps homebuyers forecast the value of their homes based on machine learning from 90 city data variables

Nowcast reports are available through banks in Malaysia to mortgage applicants today.
 
“We are excited to be working with the deepest real estate data science team in the region to tackle a difficult but high-impact problem. The end goal is to provide access to affordable and fair mortgages for Southeast Asian homeowners.” said Kuo-Yi Lim, co-founder and managing partner of Monk’s Hill Ventures.

Investors in the previous round include 500 Global, 500 Southeast Asia, and Reapra.