AI investments drive PropertyGuru’s 12% revenue bump in Q2

Photo credit: PropertyGuru

PropertyGuru’s focus on AI appears to have paid off. The proptech company recorded an 11.7% year-on-year growth in revenue to S$36.9 million (US$27.2 million) in the second quarter of 2023.

Hari Krishnan, CEO and managing director of PropertyGuru, said one of the reasons for this growth is the Singapore-based firm’s implementation of AI across its operations, which the exec believed has strengthened its offerings and drove improvements in code quality and engineering.

In June, the company launched GuruPicks, which uses machine learning to generate a personalized feed of property listings, Krishnan noted.

PropertyGuru’s investments in AI helped it offset the revenue hit it took in Vietnam. Krishnan said government interventions in the country, which were implemented to prevent an expected property sector downturn, have continued to hurt the firm’s local business.

Meanwhile, the company registered a net loss of US$4.8 million in the quarter, down from a net income of US$2.8 million in the same year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA, meanwhile, grew to US$3.4 million in Q2 2023 from US$188,600 the year before.

Joe Dische, the firm’s CFO, said the changes came with PropertyGuru’s improvements in cost management and operating leverage.

PropertyGuru has continued to streamline its business further, with the company shutting down its Indonesian online property portal Rumah as well as SaaS product FastKey in all its markets. Rumah’s closure affected around 61 employees, Krishnan announced earlier this week.

“We will prudently manage discretionary spending and target value-additive investment opportunities,” Dische mentioned in the company’s earnings report.

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