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Rupert Murdoch-led News Corp has raised its stake in Singapore-based Elara Technologies, the parent firm of realty portal PropTiger.com, from 25 per cent to 30 per cent. News Corp has not disclosed the value of the deal. It had acquired 25 per cent in Elara in November 2014 for $30 million.
The fresh investment validates News Corp’s focus on India, where it already has presence through Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins Publishers. In the online space, it had acquired digital content company VCCircle earlier this year. Last year, it bought BigDecisions.com.
PropTiger has since acquired digital design start-up Out of Box Interaction and added property search portal Makaan.com to its portfolio.
“We strongly believe the combination of PropTiger.com and Makaan.com is best poised to be the dominant digital real estate platform in India for years to come,” said Raju Narisetti, senior vice-president (strategy) at News Corp, who also chairs Elara’s Singapore-based board.
“While India’s real estate sector continues to work its way through challenging macro conditions, we remain very optimistic, not only about India’s long-term potential, but also about the management team of PropTiger in its ability to execute, rationally and deliberately.”
Other major shareholders in Elara — SAIF Partners and Accel Partners — which had increased their shareholdings as part of the original News Corp investment, remain key backers of PropTiger. PropTiger has raised $7 million from SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Horizen Ventures.
Dhruv Agarwala, co-founder, PropTiger.com, said: “News Corp’s increased stake is a validation of PropTiger’s strategy to win a growing share of the digital real estate market in India through our service offerings and an end-user experience that is second to none. We continue to benefit from News Corp’s global expertise in real estate markets.”
Founded in February 2011, PropTiger.com is an independent real estate advisor with presence across India and with a little over 250 developer partners which market their new properties through it.
News Corp owns a 62 per cent stake in REA Group, which operates Australia’s leading property website realestate.com.au. It also owns Move Inc, which operates realtor.com in the US. It recently incubated MansionGlobal.com, a global luxury real estate website housed at Dow Jones & Company.
In India, on the back of exponential growth in the e-commerce space, real estate as a vertical is emerging as key battle front and players such as Housing.com and CommonFloor.com are reportedly in talks to raise fresh funds in the range of $ 100 million.
