Vietnamese proptech firm bags $10.2m investment from Mekong Capital

Rever, a Vietnam-based property technology startup, announced that it has raised US$10.2 million from private equity firm Mekong Capital in a recent funding round.

Rever co-founder and CEO Phan Le Manh / Photo credit: Rever

With the latest round, Rever has raised US$16.5 million in total funding to date, with VinaCapital Ventures, Singapore’s Golden Equator Ventures, and Korea Investment Partners backing the startup in previous rounds.

The proptech firm was established in 2016 by Phan Le Manh and Vo Thang Loi, who are both former executives of local messaging platform Zalo (owned by tech firm VNG). Rever operates a real estate brokerage service that follows an online-to-offline model, allowing customers to access property listings via its platform, visit the company’s local transaction center, or meet property agents in person.

The company’s platform currently has 50,000 verified listings, which are validated by on-ground staff aided by technology. The Vietnamese firm drew its inspiration from Beike Zhaofang, a Tencent-backed Chinese real estate platform.

In a similar vein, Rever aims to use the freshly raised capital to become a one-stop shop for customers’ property-related needs. The startup plans to expand to 20 cities, build 200 transaction centers, and employ 20,000 agents in Vietnam by 2025. It also wants to develop other value-added solutions such as loan brokerage, digital furniture fitting, and smart-home solutions for proptech customers.

In 2019, the startup recorded 100 billion Vietnamese dong (US$4.3 million) in revenue, its co-founder and CEO Phan had previously told Tech in Asia.

See also: Why property tech is Vietnam’s next must-watch sector

Rever’s local proptech competitors in the country include full-stack real estate platform Propzy, which raked in US$25m in a series A funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia and Gaw Capital and OneHousing, which is a platform run by Vietnamese real estate giant Vingroup.

Currency converted from Vietnamese dong to US dollar: US$1 = 22,808.5 Vietnamese dong