Emerging markets real estate platform Lamudi receives investment from Ringier AG and Axel Springer

Wednesday, 28 November 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Lamudi Sri Lanka, one of the leading real estate platforms, has announced that the company has recently welcomed media and digital marketplaces companies Ringier AG and Axel Springer as new strategic investors.

Both companies will share a seat in the advisory board, which will for now be taken over by Ringier. The funding amount is not made public, but Lamudi Co-Founder and CEO Kian Moini states: “The majority of funding can and will be spent on growth, given the company’s comfortable financial situation and clear path to breakeven.”

Launched in late 2013 with Rocket Internet, Lamudi is a leading global real estate platform, focusing exclusively on emerging markets. The fast-growing platform has active property portals available in Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) and Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Peru). Lamudi counts very well-known investors including Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), a joint venture of Rocket Internet and Ooredoo, Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Tengelmann Ventures.

“We have proven to be of high value to consumers and industry players along the search and marketing of real estate. The new funding round will help us accelerate that, as well as significantly expand our efforts to add value along the transaction,” Co-Founder and CEO Kian Moini said. “Beyond the capital, we look forward to benefit from the learnings and knowledge of the marketplaces and transactional property businesses which are part of the portfolios of Axel Springer and Ringier.”

Lamudi revealed that it launched a tech-enabled brokerage business in Indonesia under a separate brand early this year and has already surpassed 100 transactions per month in its 9th month of operations. According to Lamudi, this puts it not only well above its closest brokerage competitor despite having launched 2 years after, but also among the fastest growing tech-enabled brokerages across emerging markets.

Ringier AG, Switzerland’s leading international media enterprise, is a very well-known digital marketplaces investor in emerging markets across CEE, Africa and SEA. Ringier Head of Marketplaces Robin Lingg states: “Ringier stands for investing in sustainable value creation. Lamudi very much matches our vision, as well as our interest in localised business models and country footprint. We have been deeply impressed by the company’s operative level of sophistication, its global and local management team’ capabilities and eagerness to create value. We believe that Kian and his team will drive significant change in the real estate industry in SEA and Mexico.”

Axel Springer SE President (Classifieds Media) Andreas Wiele said: “The team of Lamudi has built, under the leadership of Kian Moini, a fast-growing business in attractive markets. As one of the largest operators in the digital real estate space, we are convinced that we can help to further this development with our knowhow and expertise.”