Pakistan's housing market saw amicable environment in 2015, and a glimpse of the same was seen in the annual report of the country's leading property portal - Zameen.com. While the portal is undisputed leader in the country real estate market for buying and selling online, it has also been a source of primary data for the industry.
The property portal has also been seen to attract significant investment over the last two years of its operations, and the trend has only picked up pace; Zameen.com has closed its Series C funding round with a $20 million investment. The investment will primarily go into the property portals parent company, Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG), formerly Zamzama Property Group, which owns and controls online property portals in Pakistan and UAE.
Though the group has not disclosed the name of the investor, the funding came from a previous investor in the firm. While the portal initiative was taken in 2006, Zameen.com received its angel investment from French property portal authority Gilles Blanchard in 2012. The pace of investment picked up in 2014 and 2015 when the portal was able to complete its Series A round and Series B round. This is apparent from the fact that Zameen.com has raised around $29 million in the last five to six months including the $20 million raised recently.
The investment is likely to be used to aid expansion plan, which is warranted by the portals growth in recent years. Besides being used in technology up gradation, the funds will be used in acquisition activity. Over the years, and particularly the growth achieved in the last couple of years with investment pouring in, Zameen.com has expanded its team from 90 employees in 2014 to over 500 people across Pakistan currently. It has presence across 30 cities, over three million monthly visits, and 9,000 real estate agencies on board.
The firm is also taking its operations to Bangladesh. In the firm's press release, Zameen.com CEO, Zeeshan Ali Khan has stated that the investment would be spent on EMPG's existing ventures in Pakistan and UAE, as well as on launching new ventures in Bangladesh and the Middle East. Zameen.com already has a sister concern in Dubai by the name of Bayut.com, which is one of the leading property portals in UAE.
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