Quikr brokerage business to increase from HDFC Realty buy

Once this deal goes through, Quikr would have added 5 firms in real estate in the past two years

Tiger Global-backed online classifieds company Quikr will expand its brokerage business once it acquires HDFC Realty and its digital unit HDFC Red, helping it generate higher margins for converting leads that it generates from its online properties.

The brokerage business also helps it get access to more premium realty buyers, who need servicing for their real estate needs. Quikr, which has shifted its focus from horizontal to become a vertically focused listings player, has been on a acquisition spree over the last two years, to expand its offering on specific verticals. It has strengthened vertical play in automobiles, real estate, jobs, services and peer to peer sales.

If the HDFC Realty and HDFC Red acquisition goes through, Quikr would have added five firms in the real estate space in the last two years.

In 2015, it had bought smaller rival RealtyCompass and agent aggregator Indian Realty Exchange. Last year, Tiger Global stitched a $200 million deal to merge CommonFloor with Quikr as part of its decision to cut losses in the online space. It also acquired Grabhouse, a home rental start-up in November.

A term sheet has been signed for the deal, a person familiar with the development said. A Quikr spokesperson declined comment.

The online real estate business has seen significant consolidation in the Indian startup space. Softbank funded Housing.com merged with News Corp-backed PropTiger. In April 2015, PropTiger acquired classified platform Makaan.com for India's first online to offline platform.

Another global realty consultant, Coldwell Banker, acquired tech based property brokerage Favista.com in an all stock deal.

The nearly ten year old Quikr has raised $ 346 million from investors such as Tiger Global, Kinnnevik AB and Matrix Partners.

Since January last year, Quikr has acquired Salosa, Stayglad and ZapLuk in the home services segment, Commonfloor and Grabhouse in the real estate segment, Hiree in the recruitment segment and Stepni in the automobile services segment.

Quikr's push for a vertical play comes even as global e-commerce player Amazon and its local rival Flipkart begin to encroach its space. Amazon has integrated its peer to peer platform Junglee for consumers, while rival Flipkart has entered the peer to peer e-commerce space with the four million user base it added with the acquisition of the local unit of eBay Inc. OLX, the Naspers-owned listings player competes with Quikr in the pure play listings space.