Propzy founder and CEO John Le has confirmed with Tech in Asia that the startup has laid off 50% of its staff starting in September 2021 amid a restructuring of its business model.
Founder and CEO John Le / Photo credit: Propzy
The development was first reported by DealStreetAsia.
Le said most of the affected staff were in sales. As Propzy further automates its tech-enabled direct brokerage services, these positions were no longer necessary.
In the past, Propzy positioned itself as an end-to-end platform that provides a safe environment to buy, sell, and rent real estate.
It operates a marketplace where users can view properties that have been vetted and verified by its staff. However, Le said the startup has shifted away from having “large internal operations” to a self-service model that relies 100% on third-party agents instead.
See also: Why property tech is Vietnam’s next must-watch sector
Le said more people were hired to develop new products such as PropzyHome, a modern townhouse selected and redesigned by the startup. “While our marketplace is still operating at full scale, we’re no longer trying to make money on home sales, where the take rate is low,” he added.
In 2020, Propzy raised US$25 million in a series A round led by Gaw Capital Partners and SoftBank Ventures Asia. Le said the startup plans to announce a new funding round soon as “the nature of this business is very balance sheet-heavy.”
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Eileen C. Ang
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