Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group Invests $12 Mn In Realty Startup Square Yards

Gurugram-based online to offline (O2O) real estate transaction player Square Yards has raised $12 Mn investment from the private equity arm of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group.

Founded in 2013 by Tanuj Shori, Square Yards is a tech-enabled transaction and aggregation platform for global real estate.

The company will use the newly raised funding to strengthen its distribution network across Indian and global markets. According to a company statement, it is targetting double-digit market share in Indian real estate distribution and is planning to expand to 25+ countries on the ground advising on global real estate. Currently, it has over 1100 employees in 22 cities and 10 countries.

Kanika Gupta Shori, Founder & COO, Square Yards said, “With this collaboration, the company will be able to draw on Reliance’s extensive experience, particularly in scaling up the business to a higher growth trajectory and creating significant shareholder value in the process. Besides capital, we will also get access to best practices in running large consumer businesses at scale, with the participation of Reliance.”

The company claims to have generated exceptional growth in all key business metrics and currently has a net revenue run rate of $1.5Mn – $2Mn per month (annualised ~ $25Mn) and transaction rate of ~600-800/month.

This is Square Yards’ first institutional investment after it had raised $11Mn from a clutch of HNW investors last year. In October last year, it acquired creative and design studio, Oryden Tech Labs for an undisclosed amount.

Last month real estate management startup Azuro raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai-based early stage investment firm White Unicorn Ventures, Kae Capital, and Mumbai Angels. Earlier in April 2016, online real estate portal Housing raised an undisclosed amount from Vineet Singh, former business head of 99Acres.