Grabhouse gets $10M to continue its war against brokers

Bangalore-based Grabhouse has raised a Series B round of US$10 million from its existing investors, Sequoia Ventures, and Kalaari Capital. According to the company, the money will be used to enhance its technology, strengthen its presence across the 11 cities it’s already in, and launch new features.

Founded by Prateek Shukla and Pankhuri Shrivastava, GrabHouse is a rental property listing website that allows users to find housing in Indian cities. Users are initially provided with two free leads and are charged a small amount to access more. This fee varies depending on factors like location, property availability, and the user’s housing budget.

Everyone hates brokers

Grabhouse is not deterred by the reaction that the very-transparently-named startup “No Broker” received, and it has adopted a similar approach. Grabhouse goes so far as to entirely block brokers – users are incentivized to report broker details and the site has blocked around 200,000 so far.

Instead of needing a broker, users search for flats on their own. A user that signs up with the site is prompted to search for either “full flats” and “roommates and PGs [paying guests]” – essentially, shared flats. If they are not satisfied with what they’ve found, customers can pay for “neighborhood specialists” that help them generate more specific leads. On the other end, property listers are charged a fee to market their properties.

The website claims that it has more than 4.5 million users visiting its website a month and works across 11 cities. Earlier this year, Grabhouse raised US$2.5 million in a series A round from Kalaari Capital and India Quotient.

Grabhouse has a lot of competition, including Housing, Proptiger, and CommonFloor.