SINGAPORE, 1 July 2015 - PropertyGuru Group (“PropertyGuru”), Asia’s leading online property portal, today announced it has closed the S$175 million investment by a strategic investment consortium and bolstered its Board with the appointment of four new Directors, including a new Chairman.
Global private investment firm TPG’s Partner and Managing Director Ganen Sarvananthan becomes Chairman of PropertyGuru. Paul Bassat, Partner and Co-founder of investment company Square Peg Capital; Emtek Group Commissioner Jay Wacher and David Gowdey of TPG also become Directors of the company. The four new Directors join PropertyGuru co-founders Steve Melhuish and Jani Rautiainen on the Board. Additionally, Tunku Ali Redhauddin Muhriz, a senior advisor to TPG, becomes Chairman of PropertyGuru Malaysia.
“PropertyGuru is an exciting company with exceptional leadership under co-founders Steve and Jani. Each member of the investor consortium brings unique and strategic benefits which support PropertyGuru’s vision and growth plans going forward. The enhanced Board will help the company forge new and valuable business relationships to further solidify its leadership position in Southeast Asia,” said Ganen Sarvananthan, PropertyGuru Chairman.
The new Board appointments follow the investment of S$175 million in PropertyGuru by a strategic investment consortium comprising TPG, Emtek Group and Square Peg Capital, announced on 9 June 2015. The investment was formally completed on 22 June 2015 and represents the largest investment made into a Southeast Asian tech company in 2015.
“As we continue to strengthen our leadership position and grow as a company, it is important that our Board evolves too,” said Steve Melhuish, CEO and co-founder of PropertyGuru. “Our Chairman and each new Board member bring significant and relevant experience, insights and business networks to the Board. This will help PropertyGuru capitalise on our now expanded capacity to pursue our growth agenda and seize new opportunities in the region’s digital space.”
The value of real estate transactions via the PropertyGuru platform is estimated to be S$14 billion per annum. As the leading property portal in Southeast Asia, PropertyGuru garners more than 11 million monthly consumer visits, 104 million page views and has achieved traffic growth of 28% per annum. Mobile accounts for 52% of total traffic for the company.
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About PropertyGuru Group
PropertyGuru Group is Asia’s leading online property portal group used by more than 11 million property buyers, viewing over 104 million property pages and generating over 500,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers – every month – across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by two entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, PropertyGuru has become market leader in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
The Group’s continued focus on innovation has been a key enabler to its success. PropertyGuru has developed and launched 15 mobile applications in four countries and three languages. At present, the Group records over 2.5 million downloaded mobile apps. PropertyGuru was also the first to integrate its website with social media and first to launch Singapore’s only dedicated property newspaper, read by more than 100,000 readers island-wide every month. PropertyGuru has also developed a property events platform with approximately 30 shows held annually across four countries, addressing 30,000 potential property buyers on the ground.