SoftBank infuses additional Rs 100 crore in the struggling Housing.com

Even as industry experts in recent times were raising concerns about the cautious stance applied by venture funds in the Indian start-up space, a fresh fund infusion by Japan’s SoftBank into the now-struggling Housing.com contradicts the growing inconvenience. [caption id=“attachment_2593386” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] As per reports, SoftBank has invested an additional Rs 100 crore in Housing.com to drive the growth of the realty portal. The fresh fund infusion comes days after PM Modi flagged off the country’s Start-up plans, which was attended by world’s leading start-up giants, including SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. Announcing the fresh funding, Mumbai-based Housing.com said that “it has secured a fresh round of funding from SoftBank, its largest investor.” “The new Rs 100 crore infusion will well-capitalise the company to drive its new strategy and growth plans,” Housing.com said in a statement. The company did not disclose the SoftBank’s increase in stake after the fresh infusion of Rs 100 crore. SoftBank had over 30 per cent stake in the portal. Founded in 2012, the portal had raised so far over USD 100 million in capital from leading investors, including SoftBank, Nexus Ventures, Falcon Edge and Helion Ventures. “Softbank is one of the world’s largest and most successful investors. Their continued support as both investors and advisors to Housing.com is invaluable to us and signifies their long-term commitment to the company,” Housing.com CEO Jason Kothari said. Housing.com has established a focused strategy on buying and selling homes, the largest and most lucrative segment of the real estate market. With 85 million visits in 2015 and 1.7 million verified listings to date, Housing.com said it is building scalable revenue streams around its world—class product, market leading demand and supply, and is also going deeper in the value chain towards facilitating and fulfilling transactions. The portal had acquired an online community for real estate (India Real Estate Forum), a popular CRM for developers (HomeBuy360), and a data analytics and due diligence company for real estate (Realty Business Intelligence). These acquisitions would be leveraged to further the company’s strategy and growth plans, it said. With inputs from Agencies