Facebook co-founder and Sequoia invest in Singapore property site 99.co
99.co, a Singapore property site that is taking regional mainstays PropertyGuru and iProperty head-on, announced at its official launch that it has received an investment from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and leading venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, bringing its total investment to S$2.7 million (US$2 million). This latest round of investment is said to be US$1.6 million, which values the company at US$8 million.
It last raised a round in May of last year, getting US$560,000 from Fenox Venture Capital, 500 Startups, Golden Gate Ventures, Kathrein Ventures, and East Ventures (disclosure: East Ventures is a Tech in Asia investor). It did a soft launch in November 2014, and since then doubled its traffic to reach 150,000 monthly visits. The number of listings also doubled to 26,000.
99.co differentiates itself from the market by promising a pure search experience untouched by paid classifieds, the latter of which is what competitors essentially are. PropertyGuru’s counterpoint however was that its listings are not just ranked according to how much a property agent paid. Quality of listings matter too.
Nonetheless, there’s intuitive appeal in how 99.co wants to cater to house or rent seekers first and foremost in the search results and listings. It’s bringing Google’s search sensibilities to the property arena. “When I was trying to find a home for myself here in Singapore a few years ago, 99.co didn’t exist and I naturally explored all web and mobile tools available, and I was nothing short of disappointed,” says Saverin.
“Were the listings real and available? Was the pricing data and other details accurate? Why so many duplicates? It was a high-friction and time-consuming experience that had to change.”
During the panel discussion. L-R: Evan Chung (VP, DTZ), Eugene Lim (KEO, ERA), Mohd Ismail (CEO, Propnex), Darius Cheung (CEO, 99.co), Eduardo Saverin (co-founder of Facebook, Tan Kok Keong (CEO, REMS)
Held at posh night club Avalon, which sits on the waters just outside Marina Bay Sands, the official launch saw ProxNex CEO Mohamed Ismail, ERA “key executive offer” Eugene Lim, and DTZ vice president Evan Chung – all heavyweight companies in Singapore’s real estate industry – turn up to vouch for the startup. Of course, it helped that Saverin was there to sell the idea too, and he painted a picture of 99.co not just bringing the best search results, but helping users find the homes that most suit them.
He highlights a feature on the site where users can see the various transit options, and how that could impact a buyer’s decision-making. “It could mean the amount of time I’ll get to spend extra with my kids. It could mean from the Singapore perspective the amount of cars on the road. Or the amount of money I’ll spend on gas.”
99.co plans to make money by charging property agents a subscription fee of S$35 (US$25) a month to use its mobile app, which allows them to cross post properties to a number of popular sites, including competitors. Paying users will also get notified on referrals from the site, and they can screen potential buyers beforehand by viewing crucial information.
“As a salesperson, it’s very simple. What do we want? Phone calls [from potential property buyers]. After a one-year free trial, if the calls come, we pay,” says Chung.
Singapore has about 31,000 property agents, so assuming a quarter of them pay for the app, that’s an annual revenue of US$2.3 million tops based on subscriptions alone. That means the startup will need to add in more revenue streams, or expand overseas in the not-too-distant future. 99.co plans to expand to the rest of Southeast Asia this year.
The startup also operates Homie.co, a site for rent seekers to find roommates.
According to SimilarWeb, PropertyGuru’s and iProperty’s Singapore site traffic declined from November to now. IProperty confirmed the drop, but attributed that to “seasonality” and added that the drop isn’t a concern as the company is getting entirely organic traffic and users are actually transacting more.
“Everyone can draw people in front of their shops by offering money. Not everyone can get them in the shop to buy and inquire. And the best way to assess that is the revenues of the website. And that’s where we are number one in the markets, except Singapore,” says Georg Chmiel, managing director and CEO of iProperty.
See more: People in Singapore are getting a bad deal in property search. 99.co wants to fix that
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