Former head of Gojek’s lifestyle app is building a property crowdfunding startup

Dayu Dara Permata, the former head of Gojek’s lifestyle app GoLife, is working on a new startup called Pinhome. Ahmed Aljunied, previously the vice president of engineering and product at GoLife, has also joined the fledgling company as chief technology officer.

Several sources tell Tech in Asia that Pinhome has made a pitch to several venture capital firms to raise external funding. However, there’s no clear timeline for when the startup will launch its product.

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Based on information found on its website and Instagram account, Pinhome is a fintech-slash-property startup that allows users to invest in houses and apartments through crowdfunding. Investors typically purchase entire homes or apartment units, but Pinhome’s model lets them have partial ownership, allowing them to start investing with a smaller amount of money.

The website also says that Pinhome offers a property management and rental service called PinManage. Owners of unoccupied property can earn revenue by registering it to Pinhome, which will rent out the properties through online travel agents.

“It is still very early,” Dara tells Tech in Asia. “We cannot share many details on what we will provide to users upon launching, but one thing we can share is that we will be focusing on the post-discovery journey of property.”

The Pinhome founder says that she had been interested in the property sector even before she joined Gojek. Inspired by her parents, who own several investment properties, she has also been investing in real estate in recent years.

Dara was one of Gojek’s first employees, joining around the time when the ride-hailing startup launched its app in early 2015. Later that year, she set up Gojek’s lifestyle division, which initially included service platforms GoTix, GoClean, GoGlam, and GoMassage. In 2017, it was spun out to become a separate app called GoLife and added new services like GoAuto, GoDaily, GoLaundry, GoFix, and GoPertamina.

Aljunied, meanwhile, was the CTO of ecommerce startup Jualo. He was recruited by Dara to join GoLife in mid-2017.

In December 2019, Gojek said that it was discontinuing several services on its GoLife app, except for GoMassage and GoClean. Around the time of the announcement, Dara and Aljunied indicated on LinkedIn that both of them were leaving GoLife to establish a “stealth-mode startup,” as she put it.

Pinhome is not the first startup to offer property crowdfunding in Indonesia. Several others already provide similar services in the country, like Provesty and Ethis. Pinhome’s PinManage is also similar to Travelio, which just raised US$18 million in a series B round in late 2019.

Pinhome’s entry into the market is well-timed. After stagnant growth for the past few years, analysts expect Indonesia’s property sector to bounce back this year, thanks to steady inflation, robust gross domestic product growth and a stable government following last year’s elections.