Housing.com raises Rs 100 crore from SoftBank

Housing.com said it had received 1 billion rupees ($14.7 million) in fresh funding from its largest investor SoftBank Group Corp, months after a restructuring that saw hundreds of job cuts at the real estate classifieds company. The company, which fired its founding CEO Rahul Yadav last July after he was involved in a public spat with its venture capital investors, has been struggling with mounting losses and falling market share according to local media reports. The company, that last raised $90 million in a SoftBank-led round in December 2014, had been pegged as one of the most promising Indian startups, but has since run into trouble on rising costs amidst a management shake-up. SoftBank last year committed to investing $10 billion in India over 10 years and CEO Masayoshi Son said last week the Japanese conglomerate will accelerate investments into India. Housing.com became the plot for epic drama last year.From the ‘çreative’ resignation from then CEO Rahul Yadav going viral to the site being hacked after his exit, Housing kept the drama quotient high last year. On the other hand, Housing that was valued insanely at $400 million, reportedly saw steep fall to less than $50 million. The company disclosed its layoff plans, shut down some operations such as land development, and finally announced to focus only on home renting and buying. With inputs from Reuters