Vietnamese proptech startup Rever secures $2.3m for expansion

Rever, a proptech startup in Vietnam, has secured US$2.3 million from GEC-KIP Technology and Innovation Fund.

The Rever team with founder and CEO Manh Phan (middle, back row) / Photo credit: Rever

Rever will use the new investment to expand in the country, where there are over 200,000 real estate transactions each year.

The company will be opening 30 additional “experience centers” within the next 18 months, it said in a statement. It will also start expanding beyond Ho Chi Minh City and into other key markets such as Hanoi and other coastal cities.

Part of the fresh funding will be used to further develop the startup’s technology, valuation engine, recruitment drive, and operations.

Rever leverages technology and works with real estate agents to provide tailored services for home buyers. It reported having done almost 1,000 transactions year to date and over US$1.5 million in revenues in 2018, which it expects to triple this year.

Rever was established by Manh Phan, the former marketing director of local messaging platform Zalo, to make real estate services more efficient and transparent in a market with nearly 7,000 agencies and more than 100,000 agents.

The GEC-KIP Fund is an US$86 million venture fund co-managed by Singapore’s Golden Equator Capital and Korea Investment Partners. The deal with Rever is its second investment in a regional proptech company. In September 2018, the fund led a US$2.8 million investment in Singapore proptech marketplace Ohmyhome.

Synclare Kim, executive director at Korea Investment Partners, will be joining Rever’s board of directors.

The startup’s existing investors include VNG founder and chairman Le Hong Minh, 24h Group founder and chairman Phan Minh Tam, and VinaCapital Ventures.