Property platform ZmyHone wins seed funding from Singapore
Corporate January 16, 2018 01:00
By JIRAPAN BOONNOON
THE NATION
SINGAPORE-based KK Fund has injected seed funding of US$400,000 into online property marketplace ZmyHone and aims to invest US$15 million into other startups in Southeast Asia over the region in the coming years.
Koichi Saito, founder and general partner of KK Fund, a startup venture capital fund based in the city state, said that the firm saw high growth potential in the Thai company.
The firm has invested in other startups in Thailand, such as EventPop and Giztix. It has put its money into 20 startups in six countries - Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – for total investment of around US$6 million.
“We invested in ZmyHome because they are an important real estate platform,” said Saito. “It has initiated very creative solutions to suit the local market.”
He said the US$15 million investments planned over the next few years would focus on online marketplaces in the areas of logistics and property, financial technology, entertainment and media.
Natthapon Asswisessiwakul, chief executive of ZmyHome, said the venture is one of 34 startups under DTAC’S accelerated programme.
The firm provides online marketplaces platform to help home owners and property developers who want to promote their properties on its platform.
300,000 visitors monthly
The site draws around 300,000 visitors a month.
Around 30 per cent of the home-seekers visiting the site move on to make a purchase via the platform, company said.
By the end of the year, the company expects the website will have attracted one million visitors. There are around 30,000 house and condominiums listed on the platform.
Around 60 per cent of the listings are for rental, with the rest for purchase.
He said that the company also planned to secure its future development by coming up with a platform in English in the second half of this year.
This would serve the needs of foreigners looking for condominiums in tourist cities such as Phuket and Chiang Mai.
It will also develop argument reality technology and application programming interface that will be able to connect with the back offices of the property developers listed on the platform.
Around 10 property developers have paid to have their properties promoted on the site, outlaying Bt10,000 a month.
The real estate market in Thailand is worth more than US$20 billion a year.
DTAC’s 34 startups in the accelerated programme have a combined valuation of around Bt3.5 billion.