He quit Goldman Sachs to try conquer Asia’s online property market

Photo credit: Paragon Apartments

Asif Ghafoor worked in the banking and financial services industry for 11 years. Originally from the UK, Asif graduated in 2001 with a degree in mathematics and computer science from University College London, after which he joined Goldman Sachs, and worked there for eight years in the equity technology wing. The latter part of his banking career was spent at Standard Chartered, where he worked for four years.

When he moved to Hong Kong, in 2007, Asif tried looking for property to rent online and was “shocked by the quality of the search experience.” Asif was used to a seamless experience on the likes of Zoopla, and was taken aback by what he saw on the web.

“Most listings on the portals were fake and the general quality of the technology powering the platforms was very poor,” recalls Asif. “The mobile experience was non-existent and it was impossible to find any data without relying completely on agents. Overall it was a shocking end-to-end experience which just didn’t make sense given the size of the market.”

He set up online property startup Spacious in 2013. By then he understood the pain experienced by other property seekers as well as the potential value addition in a market like Hong Kong. It raised a seed round of US$500,000 in 2014 to strengthen operations and expand the team.

Asif Ghafoor

Asif says Spacious offers a significantly better user experience compared to competing portals, such as iProperty, which News Corp proposed to acquire in November. Listings on Asif’s site revolve around a geographical interface which collates data from various sources to provide information on things like proximity to local schools, nearby cafes, bars, and parks. This is to help users make an informed decision and see the quality of their potential neighborhood before signing any lease contracts.

“Hong Kong property is a big deal but the online space is very underdeveloped. The iProperty portals are very much old school and generation one internet portals. They offer very little value add over a Craigslist type aggregator,” asserts Asif.

More money

Spacious closed a US$3 million series A round last June and the startup claims it’s grown 20 percent month-on-month since launch in terms of the number of listings. One of the reasons behind this traction has been the focus on quality content and customer service.

“We collect a lot of feedback from our consumers and we’re also monitoring how agents and landlords are responding to inquiries. We’re giving them incentives to behave better. If they do, they’re pushed higher up the search algorithm. As more people use the portal, the more accurate the data becomes and the more useful it becomes,” adds Asif.

The startup’s business model is different from competing portals in the sense that it doesn’t make money from display advertisements and promoted listings. Agents who wish to advertise properties have to pay a monthly fee, based on the number of properties they upload on the site. There’s a mobile app to make it easier to upload property details taken when on-site.

Another revenue stream is the startup’s partnerships with “complementary services,” including delivery, cargo, and transportation companies. Asif says these augment the overall user experience and are part of the suite of services users normally look for when buying or renting property.

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