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The hottest movers and shakers of India’s real estate tech in 2016
By Nivedita Bhattacharjee for TechInAsia
India’s real estate sector has not been celebrating this festive season along with its billion people. Uncontrolled prices, high debt, millennials uninterested in forking out wads of money to buy a house – a host of problems have boiled down to this: there is a housing slump in the country, and it isn’t going away anytime soon.
The country’s real estate startups, however, have somewhat managed to buck the trend.
Inventory worth US$60 billion remains unsold in the top seven cities, research firm Tracxn says in a recent report. But despite a slump in the real estate market, close to 300 startups have emerged in this sector since 2015. The pace of investment picked up with US$60 million invested in 20 deals in 2016, up from US$61 million in 30 deal rounds in 2015.
The traditional real estate market in India is grappling with challenges that go beyond just high prices and unsold inventory. The reluctance of millennials to commit to long-term financial obligations like homeownership is compounding the issue, leaving developers with an overwhelming stockpile of unsold properties.
This stagnant environment has forced investors and homebuyers alike to reconsider their strategies, seeking alternative avenues that promise better returns without the hassle of direct involvement.
In contrast, the concept of done for you real estate investments has gained traction, offering a lifeline to those wary of navigating the volatile market themselves. These passive investment strategies, where the heavy lifting is done by seasoned professionals, are attracting attention for their promise of steady returns with minimal effort.
As the traditional market flounders, these modern approaches are carving out a niche, appealing to a new generation of investors looking for a smarter, more hands-off way to grow their wealth in real estate.
![A co-working space](https://cdn.techinasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/co-working-space.jpg)
Photo credit: Haldane Martin.
Even apart from the biggies that deal in buying and selling, formats like co-working places and serviced apartments are gaining in popularity. The same goes for networking and networking collaboration among brokers, listing and marketplaces for service apartments, P2P (peer to peer) rental listings and marketplaces, and virtual reality-based visualization platforms. Read: no more dealing with shady landlords who say you are within “walking distance” to the market when in fact it is 5 kilometers away.
Here’s a list of the top movers and shakers in the sector in 2016, according to Tracxn.
Top deals
Online classifieds portal Quikr’s acquisition of Commonfloor is the biggest acquisition by deal size in this space. The other deals include Proptiger’s acquisition of Proprates and 3DPhy, MagicSpace by the Indiannetwork.in, Lifepad by Fellahomes and Properji’s acquisition by Times group-owned Magicbricks.
Top investment rounds
![money, time, profits](https://cdn.techinasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/money146476915137353.jpeg)
Photo Credit: Pixabay.
Online home rental startup Nestaway beat others with a US$30 million funding in all this year. Runners up were Housing (US$15 million), NoBroker (US$10 million), DoorKeys (US$2 million), and BHive Workspace (US$1 million).
Top investors
![Photo credit: Pixabay.](https://cdn.techinasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/star-wars-899693_1280-1.jpg)
Photo credit: Pixabay.
Accel Partners (PropTiger, Commonfloor), Helion Venture Partners (Housing, Indiahomes.com), Tiger Global Management (NestAway), Saif Partners (NoBroker), and Foundation Capital (IndiaHomes.com) were the most active investors in this sector.
Co-working, yay!
![BHIVE's work space for startups.](https://cdn.techinasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/bhive.jpg)
BHIVE’s work space for startups.
Close to 60 co-working space companies have emerged till date in India, and around four companies, including BHive Workspace, Innov8, SpaceMunk, WiredHub, and Qdesq have secured funding. Delhi-based awfis is currently the most funded (US$10 million) player in this subsector, as per Tracxn.
This article was updated to reflect that inventory worth US$60 billion remains unsold in the top seven Indian cities, after Tracxn clarified.
First appeared at TIA