Housing.com raises $400,000 from parent Elara Technologies

Gurugram-based Locon Solutions, which runs real estate platform Housing.com, has raised $400,000 in a growth funding round from its Singapore-based parent Elara Technologies.

The infusion is part of a pre-existing $6.63 million (Rs 50 crore) funding plan. 

In March, shareholders of Locon Solutions approved the issuance of 714,286 Series D preference shares at Rs 670 per share to the parent entity, totalling to Rs 50 crore, as per latest regulatory filings. On May 5, Housing.com allotted 42,733 preference shares to Elara Technologies.

The company will use the fresh capital to expand its business, it said.

In 2017, Elara Technologies acquired Housing.com in an all-stock deal worth $55 million, which marked the exit for Tokyo-based SoftBank, venture capital firms Qualcomm Ventures, Nexus Ventures and Helion Venture Partners, and hedge fund Falcon Edge, along with several angel investors, from the company. 

Before that, the company’s investors also explored mergers with several players, including ecommerce firm Snapdeal.

Prior to the acquisition, Housing.com had raised nearly $145 million since its inception in 2012.

The firm was set up by 12 IIT Bombay students. In 2015, one of its co-founders and former CEO Rahul Yadav was replaced by Jason Kothari. 

Elara Technologies operates other realty platforms, including PropTiger and Makaan.com.

The former was founded in 2011 by Dhruv Agarwala, Kartika Varma and Prashan Agarwal. It is backed by News Corp, along with venture capital firm Accel, early-stage investor SAIF Partners and Horizon Ventures. News Corp also owns the parent entity of TechCircle.

In April last year, Makaan.com acquired online-to-offline real estate startup Fastfox.com.

The fund infusion in Housing.com comes at the time when investments in online real estate startups have been sparse. 

Last month, NoBroker Technologies raised $30 million in a growth round from returning investor General Atlantic.

In February, Reliance Group-backed Square Yards acquired Mumbai-based rentals and property management platform Azuro for an undisclosed sum.

In January, Uniplatform Tech, which operates a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based platform for real estate players called MultiplyMyLeads, raised $500,000 in a seed funding round from Atim Kabra-led private equity firm Frontline Strategy Funds and returning investor SucSEED Venture Partners.