Akhil Gupta, Founder & Chief Tech & Product Officer, NoBroker explains how technology is being leveraged effectively to eliminate the broker menace.
What are the solutions and applications currently in the NoBroker portfolio?
NoBroker was launched 7 years back in March of 2014. Since our inception we have been able to leverage technology a lot to create multiple solutions for our customers. Customers wanted their rental agreements to be done online and so brought complete rental agreement online. It is automated so without moving out of your house you can see and manage the rental agreement.
Then there is the home services where people would move in so they need packers and movers, they need cleaning panting so all of that started. People had to pay rent so NoBroker pay started where more than 4 lakh users pay their rent.
Another innovation has been the NoBrokerhood platform, it’s an application for apartment society management. We have seen a massive growth and requirements coming from these societies and there we have leveraged technology a lot. Since the pandemic started there was a lockdown, what happens is when people move in and out we used to have a feature called biometry, where everybody who come into the society daily like the maids and cooks they had to put their finger on a biometric device and with that their attendance and entry used to happen. Now with COVID that touch was not allowed so we innovated a facial recognition on this app.
On the security perspective the security guards of the society had to take a tour move around the society to check if everything is in place, if anything is broken etc. For that we created the guard patrolling there they can start the app, the app keeps a track of the path the guard is using and with their phone they can scan the security points and if they find any issue they can just note that in their phone
In the app we have added another innovation that is for group buying where every family in the society has the NoBrokerhood app and they order their groceries on the app a single delivery boy from Big Basket or Groffers comes with their orders so that people don’t have to leave their houses and many delivery boys are not entering the society constantly. These are some of the innovation that we brought in the NoBrokerhood app.
How would facial recognition work for delivery boys or courier people who are not regular visitors to the societies?
When people are coming non-frequently of different people are coming, what we do at the gate is we ask them and 1st take their photograph and two app are integrated one is true caller and other one is Arogya Setu or any app that has a QR code. Once someone is coming on the gate the guard takes a photograph and opens a QR code on the app and scans your QR code which have your verified details as no of the app work without verified details. So in this way we get their verified details and the database is automatically created. So next time when they come we can verify them using their phone numbers or the residents have given the pre-approval because they know you. In those cases we do not use facial recognition we use QR code and that provides the data to us.
How many such sensors are required in an average society?
In bigger societies where there are 700 to 1000 apartments there are two inlet points or a maximum of three. These IoT smart sensors cost very minimal amount than what we pay for the water supply, for example a high end ultra-sonic sensor costs around 25-30 thousand rupees and this meter runs for years. So these are economically viable and this helps in saving 10 lakh rupees. So in that case it is very viable and useful from innovation purposes.
What can be the potential security loopholes in the application in admitting people inside the society?
We expect the delivery boy to entre all the apartments and then needs permission from each apartment. If the delivery boy is in a hurry and does not to do that we provide multiple devices at the main gate and at every block level give a device to the security guard. Now this guy comes from the main gate and at the block gate the guard asks how many orders does that guy have and on the device of the block guard it show where all the orders are and have the approval. So if there is no approval the delivery guy will not be allowed to enter the block and stopped at the main gate.
How will NoBroker really ensure elimination of brokers when sites like 99acres and others have not managed it?
We are a platform, we are not classified like other platforms who are operating for the 10-15 years. We believe in connecting our customer on both the side. Not only to buy or sell, take on rent we connect you with everything that you need for real estate. So what happens you need a house you search on NoBroker, when you get the house you will need a rental agreement you will get that on NoBroker, you can get packers and movers on NoBroker. So you will get everything that is required to get a new house on NoBroker. So the idea is with NoBroker and NoBrokerhood application anything and everything that is needed for real estate is there in the platform. So with this idea the platform has been created.
How does NoBroker ensure working with the utility providers?
All of this comes within the NoBroker app and the beauty of this platform is we don’t pass your lead to anybody, we believe in serving you if it’s a packer and mover I will tell you how much you need to pay, I will not connect you with ABC packers and movers and say I will take my 500 rupees and please deal with that particular guy. I get your move from Mumbai to Delhi done anything that happens anything you want you reach out to me. So all of it happens on NoBroker, it’s a brand it gives trust with NoBroker you will get that institutional feeling that is missing in the real estate industry.
What is the operational business model of NoBroker?
The society installs the app NoBrokerhood, on the app it’s the resident who uses that particular app. Now if you need it in your app then you will purchase it. The society does not purchase they take the smart water meter, smart gate all those things. It is not a mandate you can come out of NoBroker and the services we are more than happy that you are able to do your work. But if you need luxuries, time saving, our expertise a smart guide to finding a house then we will charge you the minimal 1000 rupees for finding the right house.
How many societies are already your customers?
NoBrokerhood is close to ten thousand societies in India. Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, NCR region where we are operating along with Ahmedabad and Jaipur.
What are NoBroker’s expansion plans in the future?
We are growing now and our idea is to be in the top 25-30 cities in the next two to three years.
Are the solutions facing any connectivity/bandwidth problem?
India is one of the fastest growing countries in terms of telecom internet. Even in the tire 2 and tire 3 cities there are fibre connection is available with 4G. When we started 2G and 3G were the primary network and our apps used to work on 2G and 3G also. Now with 4G we are hoping to have 5G in the next 12 months also. So by the time we reach out to this tire 2, 3, 4 cities we will have any issues with internet.
Did the pandemic impact real estate purchasing which in turn affected NoBroker?
People thought that because everything was under lockdown house purchasing was not happening and people were not moving. During lockdown as well we are way ahead of our last year’s numbers. People are looking to buying houses and the primary reason is everything is from home now, so that is increasing the demand for bigger houses. As the economy was under a stress builders were also offering deals, so people who did not have the cash flow problems started buying house, the home loan rates are lowest at this time that I recall in the last 20 years. This a created an opportunities for people who have aspiration to buy new houses. There has been a demand for houses obviously it is not at the peak where it has been, but there is a lot more movement in the market in terms of much more buying than renting.
Will NoBroker solution work with b2b use cases like offices, business parks among others?
The NoBrokerhood application can be used by any commercial offices also, even in malls we have built it and we are making it much more advance that is needed for a mall or an office. But still there are offices who are using the application so that is in use already.
What are the new applications or use cases planned for NoBroker?
Many features that we built there are companies outside NoBroker that can provide those. So we keep on adding feature, rent payment is something that we added 18 months back. NoBrokerhood is another application, NoBroker home services which helps in cleaning, painting, moving home loans so that’s another thing. Six years back there was only NoBroker rental but as of now we have four pillars now NoBroker, NoBrokerhood, NoBroker home services and NoBrokerpay.
How do you intend to support your expansion plans?
The way we have created our technology that we are extremely flexible. The whole of the NoBroker business model is guided by technology, so if I had to open in 50 cities in India I can do it tomorrow without even moving anywhere. We have a single office in India in Bangalore and representing around 10 cities around India. As traffic increases our system automatically scales up and if traffic decreases as what happened during COVID our system automatically scales down.
Does NoBroker work in collaboration with the agents?
We don’t work with real estate agents, we have just the technology the app which is directly connecting buyer, tenant, owner, seller, society and their residents, we don’t associate with agents for any of our services.
How did technology help the real estate sector during the pandemic?
It’s not only technology but how you make use of the data. There’s a lot of data that NoBroker generates a lot of propriority data which in India only NoBroker has. So what happens is technology like AI-ML, facial recognition that creates a unique opportunity and creates solutions for the problems that existed for years. Nobody wants to give a bad experience to their customer and for that they want high ability their websites and app. The need of an app that doesn’t need to be frequently updated. So it’s all about customer experience and cloud is gaining a lot of popularity.
What happens to the data especially with third party providers?
We don’t sell our customer data and that is the primary privacy policy we have. We do analytics we help our customers find houses faster, find our services faster, finding houses at the best price, what should be the right rent they should be paying, so there’s no way anyone can partner with NoBroker and get this data and we don’t intent to do it at any point of time in the future also.
How do you ensure privacy of this sensitive data internally?
We don’t give access to anybody to the data sites like people developers support teams, nobody needs to know and get access to the data bases where the data is stored. Even when any relation mangers call you they don’t get to see you data, so the way the technology is created there is a dashboard there he sees your name and clicks that and the call is connected. So we have built tools and taken all the precautionary measure so that our data is secured.
How does the NoBroker app support multiple regional local languages?
So NoBrokerhood has two parts one is the resident app and the other is the one which the guard uses. As guards are multilingual so our guard app is available in ten langues, just with a click of button you can change the language and use the app. Hindi, English, Kanada, Tamil, Telegue, Guajarati, Bengali, and Punjabi also is added, so we have total of 8-10 langue’s in the app.
What is NoBroker’s workforce and what are they involved in?
We believe technology does a lot of work so for a company of our scale in India there should be eight to ten thousand employees, we work leanly so we have around 100 people in our technology product quality assurance team and on the operations side including NoBrokerhood we have another 200-2000 employees. So around 2000 to 2200 employees we have currently.
What can be the newer revenue generation avenues for NoBroker?
We can make revenue from multiple points and being a platform people pay us for subscription like when they need assisting finding a house, assisting in renting or selling their house they pay us, they also pay us for home services, they pay rent and services to NoBroker. So is you talk about the NoBrokerhood apps society part we don’t charge a lot we want the convenience available for the society and we just charge the money that we need for our operations to be viable. As most of the things are done by technology and there is not a large foot force that goes after the customers so it’s economically viable for us and be extremely profitable. So we have multiple revenue lines already in place.
How do you ensure you can eliminate the intervention of brokers?
We don’t work with brokers and we have an algorithm to weed out brokers from the platform. So if any broker wishes to register they cannot and use the NoBroker services. So what as a customer on the other side if you are an owner or tenant, buyer or seller, that will always be an genuine party without any broker. So the best is you have purchased the house on NoBroker then you use the services on NoBroker which is delivered to you by professional staff and not brokers, so people don’t have to worry about anything once they are registered on the NoBroker application.
Will both the entities in a transaction have to adopt the NoBroker solution?
There was no platform like this in real estate, all the owners nobody wants to work with the brokers for the service they provide and a very high amount is charged. A lot of owners have come in and as of now we have 1.2 cores owners who have used NoBroker’s services and on monthly basis close to 4 lakh new customers are added. We have enough supply on NoBroker. Owners are selling and renting their house on NoBroker and they are sold and rented in no time in NoBroker so you will have to be quick.
How does NoBroker differentiate from real estate portals or apps where somehow brokers enter into the system?
The name NoBroker says that there is no broker involved in this platform and with the use of technology we have ensured that no broker can register on this particular site. So the peoples with whom you get are genuine people home owners and not brokers and once they are not brokers you don’t have to worry about anything.
Does NoBroker take care of the entire movers and packers responsibilities?
We put our brand and trust on the line. The packers and movers they don’t have to worry which partner of NoBroker will be serving them. Similarly for home services you can trust NoBroker and they have weeded out all the bad players its only good highly trained professionals partners who are delivering the service and in case if you face any issue we are there to answer on their behalf and compensate for your loss.
What was NoBroker’s initial source of funding and what are you looking for as future funding?
We started working on the platform on August 2013, for almost 12-13 months we were goods strapping and on February 2015 we raised our first series which was 3 million dollar from SAF partners, after that series B from Korean and Japanese investors. Then in 2019 we did our series C and D which was done by Tiger Global and General Atlantic. So till date we have raised around 151 million dollars.