Square Yards acquires KAE Capital-backed prop-tech platform Azuro

Real estate brokerage portal Square Yards has acquired Mumbai-based rentals and property management platform Azuro for an undisclosed sum.

The entire team of Azuro, including its co-founders, have joined Gururam-based Square Yards and will continue to operate under the larger umbrella with the same brand name, the company said in a statement.

Founded in 2016 by IIT Bombay alumni Altaf Ahmad, Sushant Kumar, Sudhanshu Mishra, Ayush Agrawal and Vishal Chauthmal, Azuro offers rentals and property management solutions to owners. Run by Fittr Technologies, the startup finds tenants, does background checks, automates rent collection and manages property maintenance and tenant exits.

The company had raised a seed round in October 2016. Azuro’s investors Kae Capital, Mumbai Angels and White Unicorn Ventures will join Square Yards’ cap table after this acquisition.

"Square Yards is building an integrated intermediary ecosystem for the real estate industry and this requires the best of technology and talent. Azuro’s innovative approach in grabbing market share in the large rentals and property management sector gives us the opportunity to add synergies to the current value chain,” Tanuj Shori, founder and CEO of Square Yards, said.

Square Yards said it will scale Azuro’s business in India as well as in countries like UAE, Canada and Australia, where it has significant presence.

"We are extremely excited to integrate our end-to-end property management vision with Square Yards’ and aim to catalyse the next phase of growth by leveraging Square Yards’ platform using its reach, operational resources and the consumer platform squareyards.com," Ahmad said.

Founded in 2013 by the Shori, Kanika Gupta and Vivek Agarwal, Square Yards helps with the whole property purchase process -- from home search till property handover. Its full lifecycle service also includes research, due diligence, selling and financing.

In its most recent fundraising in September last year, the company secured $20 million from a group of investors, including media conglomerate Bennett Coleman & Co Limited (BCCL) and Japanese real estate investment company Genkai Capital. Steve Melhuish and Jani Rautiainen, founders of Singapore-based property portal PropertyGuru, and Koh Boon Hwee, former chairman of Singtel and DBS Bank, also participated in the funding round. 

The startup previously raised $10 million from the Lohia Group and CEO of cosmetics company L'Occitane Andre Hoffman.

Owned and operated by Square Yards Consulting, the startup secured $12 million from the private equity arm of the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Group in November 2016.

Square Yards claims to have served over 35,000 customers so far across 10 countries. According to the company, assets worth $2.5 billion are moved on the platform annually with a revenue run rate of $45 million. It caters to residential and hotel projects, student accommodation and mall redevelopment.