Riding high on the growth in the online real estate segment, property portal Commonfloor.com is planning to launch an initial public offer (IPO) in three-five years to raise funds for expanding business.
The company also expects to turn profitable in two years.
“The online real estate segment is growing rapidly, mainly due to the penetration of Internet and increase in usage of smartphones...to further expand our business, we might go public in the next 3-5 years,” the company Co-Founder and CEO, Sumit Jain, told PTI here.
He did not, however, disclose how much the company expects to raise.
“We have been raising funds through various investors and utilising it for creating new products, investing in technology and data gathering. We will be further investing in these three areas to make the platform more robust,” he said, adding that the venture will turn profitable in next two years.
CF Retina
The company has recently launched two services, including CF Retina, which gives a virtual experience of the property, and live-in tours in which customers can take a complete virtual tour of the property.
“We plan to roll out live-in tours in 17 more cities in the next one month. We currently have 15,000 properties listed through live-in tours and plans to list five lakh rental and resale units under the virtual tour feature in the next six months,” Jain said.
The company has about 10 million homes across 200 cities listed on its portal.
The Bengaluru-based firm has so far raised over $60 million from Accel Partners, Tiger Global and Google Capital.
“We are looking to turn profitable in the next two years.
About 220,000 properties are listed on the site every month.
We are well capitalised and have over half of the money raised till now in the bank. We believe in spending on innovation development which enhances customer experience,” he said.
Flat.to acquisition
Last year, the company had acquired Flat.to, a real estate service that helps students and bachelors find flats, paying guest accommodation and hostels across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Kota, Jaipur and Delhi.
With the acquisition, Commonfloor.com could cater to a new segment — students and bachelors, Jain said.