Excl: Realty Compass in talks with Kae Capital, Growx, others to raise up to $320K in pre-Series A funding

Chennai-based Blitzkrieg Technology Pvt Ltd, the company that owns and operates property search engine Realty Compass, is in talks with three investors to raise pre-Series A funding, a top company executive told Techcircle.in.

"We are talking to Kae Capital, Growx Ventures Management and India Internet Group to raise $200,000-$320,000 in this round of funding. All of them will take part in the funding," said Nimesh Bhandari, co-founder Realty Compass.

"The funds raised in pre-Series A will primarily be used for creating high quality data and data centric product features that will help consumers in making decisions and solving their pain points. Also, we would be spending 40 per cent of the money in marketing to create a consumer brand," he added.

Realty Compass had earlier received angel funding from Svapnas Holding Pvt Ltd.

The startup was founded by the duo of Bhandari, an IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Guwahati alumnus and Sankara Srinivasan. It claims to offer a property engine that facilitates consumers in searching each and every project in their city. Currently present in four cities, including Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Bangalore, the company plans to expand into Mumbai and Pune in three months. It is also planning to launch a service to help consumers by negotiating the best deal for them.

Realty Compass also provides a 'dial home' feature for people who don't use internet. Through this model, consumers can call an agent on a number given on its website and the agent will assist them with property search, post which the company will send a SMS to the property searcher.

The company is also planning to raise $2 million in its Series A round of funding. Bhandari said, "Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners have expressed interest to put money in Series A. They like our approach and business model but they believe we are a little early for Series A".

According to him, the company's revenues are growing at a healthy pace of 50 per cent month on month. Currently, the portal has signed up with 300 builders in Chennai and Bangalore. It claims to get 6000 leads per month; 30 people are working with the startup. In its space, Realty Compass is competing with the likes of Magicbricks.com, 99Acres.com, Indiaproperty.com and Housing.com.

Kae Capital is a Mumbai-based early-stage VC fund that invests in pre-Series A stage in technology-focused startups. Growx Ventures Management is an angel firm which typically invests $0.5 to $5 million in its portfolio companies; India Internet Group invests in early stage internet and mobile technology startups.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)