Property marketplace 99.co raises $15m series B round

Darius Cheung on stage at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2017. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

99.co, a property marketplace focused on Indonesia and Singapore, has raised a US$15 million series B round, the company’s public filing shows.

New investors in the startup include Hong Kong-based Mindworks Ventures and Allianz Strategic Investments, a subsidiary of international financial services provider Allianz.

Existing backers Sequoia India and East Ventures took part in the round as well.

99.co declined to comment on this story.

The company, which makes money by charging property agents a subscription fee to list their properties, has raised about US$10 million prior to the series B round.

It charges agents either US$280 or US$423 a year, and its plans come with a 30-day trial.

The company was set up in 2014 to provide people an alternative to the incumbent, PropertyGuru.

In January 2018, 99.co acquired UrbanIndo, one of the largest property marketplaces in Indonesia, to accelerate its growth in the country.

In terms of web traffic, 99.co appears to be closing the gap with PropertyGuru.

However, by the same measure, PropertyGuru and iProperty remain the two biggest players in Southeast Asia.

99.co and PropertyGuru have been locked in a bitter rivalry that culminated in a lawsuit.

While the incumbent has raised more than 10 times the amount its competitor has managed to obtain, its capital is deployed in far more countries, whereas 99.co’s is centered in just two markets for now.

Update on August 19: The article previously suggested that Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin may have offloaded his shares in the startup. That is incorrect. The shares were transferred to his family office.