Proptech startup Propseller, based in Singapore, is on a mission to make real estate transactions more efficient and data-driven for both sellers and buyers.
Its platform can tell users the likelihood of a conversion at each stage of the process. Propseller today announced a $12 million Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.
Other investors in the round include Hustle Fund, Iterative, and Rapzo Capital, as well as newcomers Partech, ICCP SBIT, Vulpes Ventures, and Redbadge Pacific.
It also includes several prominent proptech founders, including Jani Rautiainen of PropertyGuru, Marta Higuera of OpenAgent, Steffen Wicker of Homeday, and Tushar Garg of Flyhomes.
Propseller, which was founded in 2018, will use its Series A funding to scale its business model, expand its offerings, and enter international markets.
It currently employs approximately 50 people, including 20 salaried real estate agents (or consultants, as the startup refers to them), and plans to hire 200 more for its marketing, operations, product, engineering, sales, and real estate teams.
Propseller is able to charge only 1% commission rate, as opposed to 2% for traditional real estate agencies, because it uses technology to make the real estate buy/sell process more efficient, according to its founder and CEO Adrien Jorge.
Jorge encountered the difficulties of purchasing real estate in Southeast Asia while looking for investment opportunities.
For example, he claims that while property prices are frequently high, service from traditional brokerages frequently falls short.
He attributes this to the fragmentation of Southeast Asia’s real estate market, with 200,000 agents in the region closing only two transactions per year on average.
As a result, Jorge saw an opportunity to create a platform that would assist people in selling their homes more quickly, transparently, and with the least amount of hassle.
The reason why Propseller calls its licensed real estate agents consultants is because the company’s automation gives them the time to work on client relationships.
On average, Propseller’s consultants close about 55 sales transactions per year, which also means they make more revenue.
“We are very likely the only company in Singapore to tell you what is the expected conversion rate of buyer leads coming from PropertyGuru or 99.co,” said Jorge.
This means when a lead is generated, it can be tracked from start to finish, so sellers and consultants know how likely a successful closing is at every step of the process.
Viewings generally take place offline, but Propseller also makes video and VR viewings for each property. Sellers can stay on top of the process with a dashboard that shows them which channels their property is being distributed on, inquiries generated, scheduled viewings and offers.
