Soho builds LinkedIn for properties

It raised $1.71m to double product development speed and team size at their Singapore headquarters.

Soho said in a statement that it has raised $1.71m to accelerate product development and more than double the team at their Singapore headquarters. It is developing a property discovery and management app for the world's first online property network.

For many firms, the use of technology tools has been gaining traction. There are now more tools available to agents than just a simple listing on an online classifieds site. As the number of estate agencies and agents in Singapore shrinks, many are turning to technology to help beat the property downturn blues.

The real estate startup, which launched in September last year, received investment led by Australia-based fund Bridgelane Capital, bringing the total raised by the startup to $2.75m.

Soho noted that it previously raised US$1m capital in May 2017 from investors, including the Hub Ventures Fund, an early-stage investment company launched by Impact Hub Singapore. It had not planned to raise additional funds until the second half of 2018 but attracted the attention of investors following its launch 5 months ago.

“The funds will be used to accelerate team growth at the company’s headquarters in Singapore, doubling the size of its software development team, who will have an enhanced focus on integrating Soho’s products with leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software used by the industry, with the aim of deepening its market penetration by making it easier to onboard property agents,” the company said.

Soho is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Jonathan Lui, who was responsible for co-founding Airtasker.com in 2012. Lui noted that one of the biggest issues from agents in Singapore is that fees to list properties online are only getting more expensive. “These are dramatically increasing every year and can cost thousands of dollars, but our view is that technology should be making things cheaper, not more expensive,” he added.

Lui said, “We’re seeing solid support for Soho as it’s not only free to list but also has capabilities well beyond just the transaction itself. Our view is that the classifieds pay-to-list business model will phase out over the next 5 years, and we will see significant changes to the online property searching experience.”

Soho noted that the Singapore residential property market is worth approximately $900b, but these assets are essentially offline/uncontactable until they go through all the hurdles to become ‘on-the-market.’ “Positioned as the ‘LinkedIn for Property,’ Soho solves this problem by providing a ‘digital door-knock’ and network to bring more properties online to be searched and discovered at any time by potential buyers and renters, whether or not they are currently ‘on-the-market’,” it added.

The startup now has a presence in both Singapore and Australia and has seen more than 10,000 downloads since its launch, with over 5,000+ properties and listings added to the platform worth over $3.5b.