Real estate portal ZipMatch gets funding from Kickstart and Monk’s Hill Ventures

Photo credit: Chilledsunshine / Wikipedia.

ZipMatch, an online real estate marketplace based in Manila, has secured funding from investment firm Kickstart Ventures, a unit of telco Globe Telecom, Kickstart announced in a statement today.

Co-founder Chow Paredes tells us the funding represents their “series A-1” round, and existing investor Monk’s Hill Ventures joined in. She refuses to disclose the amount. Last year, ZipMatch raised US$2.5 million in series A financing from Monk’s Hill and 500 Startups.

The startup makes home buying easy for users by offering them curated property choices and giving them access to trusted brokers, who will help them seal the deal.

ZipMatch takes a unique approach – instead of just classifieds, it offers comprehensive information about the properties listed on its site, including virtual tours and user reviews.

For brokers, the company has tools like a customer management software and a 360 virtual reality service to grow their client roster and serve those clients more efficiently.

Chow says they will use the fresh funds to increase traction. “We are dialing down our unit economics, sales processes, etc to achieve an highly efficient marketplace, and achieve a positive profitability trend.”

“As such, our current focus is more on improving or developing products and product features for the people who are at the other end of the real estate transaction – the professionals. We believe that making quality home buyer-broker connections could be a catalyst towards a more robust industry. And for that to happen, it starts with how our professionals engage with potential home buyers. Our investors believe that this would be the right step to differentiate the business from the competitors,” she explains.

Co-founded by John Dang, ZipMatch is also backed by IMJ Investment Partners.

(Updated at 4:50 pm to include Chow Paredes’ comments.)