PropertyGuru just poured “strategic investment” into Vietnamese real estate portal

The Ho Chi Minh City skyline. Photo credit: quangpraha / 123RF.

Online property finder PropertyGuru today invested in real estate portal Batdongsan, according to Vietnamese outlet VNExpress. It’s not clear at the moment if the “strategic investment” is actually an acquisition.

PropertyGuru is available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand through local offices and acquisitions. It has partnered with real estate portals in China, Hong Kong, India, and Australia to extend its reach to those markets.

PropertyGuru’s website now includes Vietnam as one of its available territories, linking to Batdongsan’s page.

The value of the deal isn’t disclosed. PropertyGuru will join Batdongsan’s board of directors. Batdongsan founder and CEO Le Xuan Truong will continue to head the business, but the two companies will work closely together to grow the Vietnamese startup.

PropertyGuru will also throw some of its tech and expertise behind Batdongsan.

The two companies will work closely together to grow the Vietnamese startup.

Similar to PropertyGuru, Batdongsan features properties for sale or rent in Vietnam, as well as news, content, and advice on the country’s property market. The site is reported to have over 2 million users, operating out of seven offices across Vietnam.

PropertyGuru has raised a disclosed total of US$183 million to date. It claims to have over 12 million monthly users and annual transactions worth US$15 billion.

Last month, the company announced that co-founder and CEO Steve Melhuish stepped down and assumed the role of vice chairman. Former LinkedIn vice president for Asia Pacific Hari Krishnan succeeded Steve as CEO.

The group also includes CommercialGuru, a commercial property portal, and mortgage finder website LoanGuru.

PropertyGuru’s main competitor, the iProperty Group, was acquired in November 2015 by News Crop subsidiary REA Group. iProperty serves Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macau, and India.

We have reached out to PropertyGuru for more details.

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from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/propertyguru-vietnam-batdongsan
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