Online real estate listing platform NoBroker has raised $30 million from existing investor General Atlantic as an extension of its Series D round, the company said in a statement. The fresh investment takes NoBroker’s Series D fundraise to $80 million.
The Bengaluru-based company has raised $151 million so far from the likes of General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management, rocketship.vc, Beenext and SAIF Partners.
NoBroker was founded in 2014 by Akhil Gupta, Saurabh Garg, and Amit Agarwal. Before launching NoBroker, Gupta and Agarwal worked with Oracle and Australia New Zealand Bank respectively, while Garg used to run The Four Fountains Spa.
NoBroker started out with the intent to weed out brokers from the home rental market. It allowed homeowners to directly list on its platform, unlike portals such as 99acres, Magicbricks or Commonfloor, which also encouraged broker listings. For consumers, NoBroker operates a freemium model, that is, they need to pay to view contact details of owners beyond a particular limit.
The company has since started dabbling in resale properties. NoBroker currently operates in six cities— Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad and claims to add 350,000 new users every month.
“We are dedicated to solve a problem that is unique to India and build India’s largest real-estate technology platform that makes transactions affordable and hassle-free. We have been tripling our revenue every year and this funding will help us further improve user experience and enable faster deal closures,” said Agarwal, the CEO, in a statement.
According to reports, NoBroker posted a loss of about Rs 46.5 crore in FY19 on operating revenues of Rs 18.07 crore, more than double the Rs 8 crore it had earned in the previous fiscal.
NoBroker has expanded beyond pureplay listing. The firm operates NoBroker Pay, its payments business that facilitates rental payments, and Home Services, which offers loans for down payments, besides packers and movers, and legal documentation, services, among others.
In February 2020, NoBroker bought society management startup SocietyConnect for an undisclosed amount in an all-cash deal. This will pit NoBroker against MyGate, Apartment Adda, and ApnaComplex, among others.
“NoBroker's service and product innovations to improve choice, reduce transaction costs, enhance transparency, and deliver convenience are driving significant organic listings and subscriptions on its platform. NoBroker Pay, NoBroker Hood, NoBroker Home Services and several such innovations are deepening the engagement of owners, tenants, buyers, and community residents,” said Shantanu Rastogi, managing director at General Atlantic, in a statement.