PropertyGuru, which describes itself as Asia's leading property portal group, has announced that it has secured a double digit million Singapore dollar strategic investment from ImmobilienScout24, Europe's top property portal group and a subsidiary of global company Deutsche Telekom.

This is one of the biggest online deals in Asia this year, and re-enforces the rapidly emerging online media opportunity in South East Asia.

The firm said that the investment will further strengthen PropertyGuru's leading market position and support the company's continued innovation focus, developing services to help its clients find and advertise properties, as well as support further expansion within the region.
 
It will also give PropertyGuru access to additional talent and expert resources, with both parties working closely together to share ideas, best practices and develop new services. Both companies share similar successes in their home countries and a vision for growth.

It has a presence in nine countries, directly and indirectly via partners and said that its websites are used by 8.2 million buyers, viewing over 65 million property pages and generating over 200,000 sales enquiries for advertisers every month.
 
In Singapore, the company's PropertyGuru and CommercialGuru websites account for 85% of all total page views from property seekers using property portal websites, according to data from Google AdPlanner.

PropertyGuru currently employs 240 experts across six offices in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The company recently reported double revenue and traffic growth over the previous year.

ImmobilienScout24 is Germany's biggest real estate marketplace, attracting more than 7.5 million users per month, according to Comscore Media Metrix. Over 260 million virtual real estate tours are taken on this portal, and more than 1.5 million different properties are offered every month.

The company is based in Berlin and employs over 500 people. ImmobilienScout24 is part of the Scout24 Group, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, a S$94 billion turnover company with 236,000 employees in over 50 countries.

‘The Asian region is a dynamic growth market and therefore of significant strategic importance to Scout24 Group. We are pleased to have found a partner in PropertyGuru Group with a strong super regional position. Together, we will be able to develop the Asian market,’ said Martin Enderle, chief executive officer at Scout24 Group.

Strong economic growth, rising middle classes, urbanisation, developing property markets, as well as an online explosion taking place throughout Asia means that there is a need for growth, according to Steve Melhuish, chief executive officer of PropertyGuruGroup.

‘This shareholding is part of our internationalisation strategy to invest early on in emerging countries with strong growth and to establish the use of the Internet as a central and most effective instrument for seeking and marketing real estate.

We have built up Germany's leading real estate marketplace and we are pleased to contribute this know how to our cooperation with PropertyGuru,’ added Marc Stilke, chief executive officer at ImmobilienScout24.

Asia's population is expected to grow 70% over the next 20 years and ongoing economic development, rising middles classes and declining household sizes is expected to drive urbanisation and rapidly growing property markets across Asia.

An increasing number of real estate and new home developments especially in urban areas, are marketed on the internet. The company believes that this investment will therefore allow PropertyGuru Group to reach out to a combined population of roughly 340 million people and S$900 million annual real estate advertising market which is rapidly moving online.

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