Housing.com names Vivek Jain tech and product head

Realty portal Housing.com, run by Locon Solutions Pvt. Ltd, has appointed Vivek Jain as chief product and technology officer. He will focus on strengthening the product and engineering aspects of the business, it said in a statement.

Prior to joining Housing, Jain was CEO at CA Media Digital, the digital business division of CA Media LP which is owned by US-based media holding company The Chernin Group, PE firm KKR and other investors. The firm oversees media, entertainment and technology businesses throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Jain has over 14 years of experience in the technology and digital space in India and the US. He began his career in 2004 with Texas-based software startup Ashley Laurent where he was deputy director. Thereafter, he has held positions at Motorola Mobility, a division of Google, where he was with the product team; Amazon Web Services, where he worked as business head; and Reliance Jio, where he served as vice president, building the company's digital media business.

"Vivek comes with a best-in-class product and technology leadership experience, a global exposure and an entrepreneurial mind-set, which is a unique mix, and one that blends with the thinking and culture at Housing.com. Vivek's addition to our senior team will benefit us in realising our vision for the company," said Jason Kothari, CEO of Housing in the statement.

In a recent interaction with Techcircle, Kothari said the company is looking to raise more funds, after netting $15 million in a bridge round from SoftBank. It has also been in the news for reportedly holding merger talks with e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal and Mumbai-based Square Yards. However, Kothari has denied holding such talks.

The real estate portal has seen some senior-level churn over the past year since the ousting of co-founder and CEO Rahul Yadav in July last year after he engaged in public spats with investors. Kothari was appointed CEO in November 2015 while Mani Rangarajan was brought in as chief financial officer and Nikhil Rungta was made chief marketing officer.

In July, the firm elevated its chief financial officer Mani Rangarajan as chief business officer.

In May 2016, the company appointed former KPMG director Dilip Tuli as senior vice president for strategy and new business and former Amazon executive Ashish Laghate as assistant vice president of product.

In April 2016, former executive vice president and business head of rival real estate website 99Acres.com Vineet Singh was appointed as senior advisor.

Of the 12 IIT Bombay alumni who founded Housing in 2012, only three remain with the company—Amrit Raj, head of digital marketing; Jaspreet Singh Saluja, who heads data operations; and Snehil Buxy, chief product officer.

Four co-founders had left the startup in 2016. In March this year, co-founder and former board member Advitiya Sharma resigned to start Genius Learning Lab, an edu-tech venture. In April, co-founders Abhishek Anand, Ravish Naresh and Sanat Ghosh also quit the realty portal to start their own venture.

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