Singapore-headquartered Property Guru, one of Southeast Asia’s renowned property website may consider a stock listing in Australia next year, its chief said.
In an interview with Bloomberg in Singapore last week, the portal’s CEO Hari Krishnan said the company which was backed by TPG Capital, an American investment company was on track in turning a profit this year as after completing a string of acquisition in Indonesia and Vietnam.
“We have hyper-growth, our revenues are growing over 30 percent,” Krishnan said.
“We are a market leader in four of the five markets and the largest in the region by any measure whether traffic, total listings, revenues.”
PropertyGuru has started a string of investments in recent years to expand into new markets and add to its technology and marketing capabilities, driving up costs and cutting into profit.
This year, the portal will reap the benefits of that expansion, especially in Indonesia and Vietnam, Krishnan said.
PropertyGuru isn’t planning an initial public offering this year but hasn’t ruled out next year.
Besides Australia, the company is also considering listing in Singapore, the U.S., and Hong Kong.
Founded in 2007, the portal caters to 16 million users a month.
In the past, the company has made six acquisitions and a strategic investment since 2011.
It invested in Vietnam’s Batdongsan last year to gain a foothold in one of the fastest growing countries in the region.
Vietnam became PropertyGuru fifth market after Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
This year, PropertyGuru is boosting investment in technology, reflecting Krishnan’s belief that it will transform the way people interact with property portals.
A bulk of the firm’s investment budget will go to artificial intelligence, and the company plans to roll out an AI-infused service in six months, a move that would help improve the portal’s user experience.
Last year, the firm employed drones to shoot the views from the upper floors of a residential property project in Malaysia, he said.
If the company lists in Singapore, it would be the first online property portal to list in the city-state, while in Australia, it would be the second after ipropertygroup, which raised A$37 million (S$42 million) in its 2007 IPO.
Property Guru’s website allows users search for properties based on location, type and price, and see photos of interiors along with floor plans. The listings purport to save time compared with the traditional approach of newspapers and agents, and the company says it often saves money for customers. The portal also makes money by charging agents a fee to use on its platform and by selling advertising online and in printed newsletters.
