Singapore's PropertyGuru raises S$175 million, TPG among investors

[CityFarmer]

A funding of S$175 million, means the portal worth much more than the amount. I am still struggling to understand the value proposition of tech company...

Singapore's PropertyGuru raises S$175 million, TPG among investors

SINGAPORE — Singapore-based real estate portal PropertyGuru Group said it has raised S$175 million in funding and investors include US private equity firm TPG.

Founded in 2006, PropertyGuru also operates its property search websites in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Other investors were Indonesian media company Emtek Group and Asia Pacific-based tech venture capital firm Square Peg Capital, PropertyGuru said in a statement.

It added that the transaction should close by mid-June, at which point representatives from the consortium will join PropertyGuru's board.

Other recent deals for online real estate portals in Asia include the purchase of a 20 per cent stake in TheEdgeProperty.com for an undisclosed amount by Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, according to local media.

Earlier this year, Google’s Google Capital unit invested an undisclosed sum in Indian website Commonfloor.com. REUTERS
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/sin...-investors

[desmondxyz]

That's how the bubble starts....

[jaykay]

The website where ONLY agents can placed ads with fabulous pricing and multiple ads for the same unit???

[Big Toe]

Until we study the revenue growth and profit of this portal, never underestimate the value of such a platform.
It is probably the best property portal/platform in sg. I can see the property developers and agents wanting to be featured there. Real estate is high value/good money. And marketing/advertising budget is high. Property guru is a direct beneficiary.

In my opinion, a great business...but have to see if the valuation makes any sense relative to its earnings. It matters very little what kind of company it is, it is the the value it generates that matter most. Google to most of us is but a search engine, but what we dont know is that advertisers are willing to pay big money to have the search results optimized and have ads showed on on related searches and this is just one source of their revenue.

Also more and more companies are turning to social media to reach out to their customers, so there is a lot of real value being created there.

[swakoo]

The Battle Is For The Customer Interface

Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.

[Big Toe]

Before Uber(or Grab Taxi in our local context) came, getting and booking a cab is pain.
Even though I do not travel by taxi often, when I do, I will use Grab Taxi, no 2nd thoughts.

Before Airbnb, staying at hotels would be the norm for most people. There were alternatives before Airbnb but Airbnb makes
finding a place to stay so much easier(and cheaper).

And in China, it is actually much easier to get stuff from the many online sites(mostly owned by Alibaba). Delivery is prompt and it just makes getting stuff you want so much easier.

These hubs/platform where the consumer goes to when looking for a service/product is becoming increasingly important.
There are vast opportunities and I do think this is just the beginning. It is not so much about being a tech company, it's more about how you can bring together both consumers/service providers/sellers in a seamless way and extract value directly or indirectly from the transactions.

[CityFarmer]

I do understand the rationale behind the "potential" and "disruptive" of those tech stocks, but we might need to quantify it, to justify the valuation.

Ultimately, we may need to see cash return as the only rationale measurement for valuation, rather than click, view, or any other measurements, IMO

(share a view from one, who is learning on tech stock valuation)

[Big Toe]

I am no fan of technology company unless it proves its products/services to be very useful and able to generate good free cash flow. Not sure about the newer start ups but Alibaba is raking in cash and essentially a proven model even though valuation is on the high side at the moment.

The plus side of these firms is the scalability and the ability to operate beyond physical borders. Traditional companies will take a much longer time to establish itself in a foreign country.

It is tough to value a lot of these companies. But for those who got into facebook(or google) when they went public or when the prices dropped below IPO price are probably laughing all the way to the bank now. Those who got in early probably knew that there is a high chance these are winners because the product/service they offer is that good. Based on valuation alone would have most investors missing these winners.

As there are no similar companies(pioneer in their field) or very long record of earnings, my guess is most people would want to avoid these companies altogether. Gut feel, a healthy appetite for risk and a very good understanding of how they work is probably what is needed.

[D123]

Update:

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/co...-spac-deal

The company has listed through a SPAC on the NYSE. It's currently a S$88mn revenue (annualized 1H21) company trading at a S$2bn market cap, with PE firms as its largest shareholders.

It's easy to come up with a list of red flags here but the most concerning thing here for me is the need to "grow" after taking PE/VC money even if there are little synergies to be expected from expanding into new geographies, and to a lesser extent, new products.

[weijian]

Folks who got in during IPO and didn't sell, will realize a 20% loss after 3 years. At one point, it was down ~60% from IPO.

PropertyGuru doesn't make a profit and would have never qualified for a SGX listing. When the latter modified its own rules for SPAC, it was already at the tail end of the boom and so would have never be considered by PropertyGuru's PE owners.

NY-listed PropertyGuru to be delisted in US$1.1 billion acquisition by EQT Private Capital Asia

Deal comes two years after IPO in 2022; acquisition expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2024 or first quarter of 2025

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/propert...pital-asia