Housing.com acqui-hires Plat & BigBHK

SoftBank-backed Housing.com, which is owned by Mumbai-based Locon Solutions Pvt Ltd, has strengthened its supply-side product portfolio by acqui-hiring property management software provider BigBHK and online agents network Plat.

As part of the transactions, Plat's founding team members (Chitransh Sahai, Gautam Prem Jain, Ayush Lodhi and Ankit Aggarwal) and BigBHK co-founders (Ankur Kumar and Atul Yadav) have joined Housing.com, the online reality portal said in a press statement.

Financial details of the acqui-hires were not disclosed.

"The acqui-hires with Plat and BigBHK adds immensely to our talent pool which in turn will empower our partners and consumers to better manage their property portfolio ensuring convenience and transparency. This is in line with our strategy moving forward of focusing on the core of our business," said Rishabh Gupta, interim CEO and COO of Housing.com, said in a media statement.

Acqui-hire refers to the buy-out of a company primarily for the skills and expertise of its staff, rather than for its products or services.

BigBHK.com offers real estate property management services through a cloud-based solution. It targets paying guest provider (PGs), hostels, independent houses, property management firms, builders, brokers and agents, the statement said.

Plat helps agents to quickly close deals by assisting them in posting leads and enhancing the property showcase experience, Housing.com said.

Housing.com has made several inorganic moves this year. In August, the online reality portal said it is paying $2 million to acquire Bangalore-based HomeBuy360, a sales lifecycle management platform that connects developers, agents and buyers.

In June, it had acquired real estate intelligence service firm RealtyBI for Rs 10 crore ($1.6 million) to enable customers assess fresh projects related risks.

Prior to that, Housing.com acquired discussion forum IREF (India Real Estate Forum).

It may be recalled that Housing.com had gone through several months of top-level turmoil concluding with the unceremonious exit of CEO Rahul Yadav in June. Since then, Gupta has been running the show as interim chief.

The company recently hired Valiant Entertainment's co-founder Jason Kothari as chief business officer.

An operating committee headed by Jonathan Bullock, a representative of the lead investor SoftBank, has been overseeing the company's operations since the first week of May.

Housing.com competes with PropTiger in which News Corp—that acquired the parent of this website in March—holds a 30 per cent stake.