Wow, Propzy sure knows how to light a fire in the real estate game! The Vietnam-based start-up just raised a cool $25 million in a Series A funding round, led by Gaw Capital and SoftBank Ventures Asia, with some heavy hitters like Next Billion Ventures, RHL Ventures, and Insignia joining the party.
Propzy founder John Le calls it “firetech” instead of prop-tech, using “fire” as an acronym for financial, insurance, and real estate technology. And boy does this startup have some heat! Propzy has become a one-place solution for any construction need for any home, building, office, etc, as an online marketplace and financial plus banking products like mortgage lending to enterprise software for property managers and tenants.
The latest funding will help Propzy grow its product line and give it the balance sheet it needs to expand into direct mortgage financing. Currently, Propzy operates in Ho Chi Minh City and has 30 sales centres with 400 sales staff. But over the next 18 months, the company aims to up the ante with 70 sales centres and 1,300 sales staff.
Propzy’s sales centres complement its online marketplace, where properties are pre-screened by staff before they’re listed. And Propzy’s no small fry – it’s handled more than $1 billion in property money alone in Vietnam.
John Le is a seasoned entrepreneur, with past startups like LoanTrader, a mortgage trading platform backed by big guns like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. He even launched an international credit bureau with TransUnion in Vietnam, where he saw first-hand the struggles of buying or renting property. In the US, consumers have the convenience of platforms like Zillow and Trulia, licensed real estate agents, and escrow offices. But in Vietnam, consumers don’t have a reliable and convenient platform just made for housing and land purposes. And are forced to use unauthorized services on websites like Craiglist. There’s also no standard listing data, making it tough for consumers to compare properties.
Propzy is on a mission to change all that, and with this latest round of funding, it’s clear that investors are on board!
When it comes to real estate in Vietnam, you can’t just whip up a website and call it a day, says Propzy CEO John Le. That’s why they built a hybrid platform that combines the best of both worlds: the high-touch customer service of an offline agency with the efficiency of online technology.
Propzy’s got a secret weapon up its sleeve, too. Using four years’ worth of data, they’ve created an automated valuation model that can assess homes and even help buyers get pre-approved for loans based on property value. And once those buyers move in, they can use Propzy’s tenant software to keep everything running smoothly, from reporting issues to booking maintenance.
Latest Update About Propzy
In 2020, Propzy Vietnam was on fire! With 1,200 employees and a whopping 80,000 customers, they had over 30 transaction centers to brag about. But then the pandemic hit, putting a major damper on their ambitions. By September 2021, they were forced to restructure and cut their sales staff by half. And then, boom, they shut down the Propzy Service Co., Ltd.
On September 13, the news broke when Mr. John Le sent out an internal email announcing that Propzy would be pulling out of Vietnam, effective immediately. Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict had taken a toll on the company and the global financial situation was just too unstable.
VietNamNet tried to get in touch with those involved and even reached out to Mr. Le himself, but so far, no reply. According to their sources, the rumors of Propzy’s shutdown are true, and many employees were left with their labor contracts terminated.
Despite the closure, an expert weighed in saying that it won’t have much of an impact on Vietnam’s Proptech market. There will still be plenty of new platforms popping up, and the market still has a ton of potential.
Conclusion
Sure, the pandemic put a damper on things for a bit. But Le says the silver lining was that more people started searching for properties online, leading to a higher pipeline of deals. And now, with consumers regaining confidence in the market, he expects those deals to close quickly. Gaw Capital and SoftBank Ventures Asia very much noticed the potential, too. That’s why they led a $25 million Series A investment in Propzy, along with a group of other investors. Humbert Pang, the managing partner at Gaw Capital, says they’re impressed by Propzy’s “value proposition and steadfast vision,” and they’re confident in the company’s future success.
Social Media
- Propzy – LinkedIn Vietnam
- John L. – CEO – Propzy – LinkedIn
- Trang Vu – COO – Propzy – LinkedIn Vietnam
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Propzy (Vietnam)
Ans. Propzyis a Vietnam-based Real State company. It operates in Ho Chi Minh City. It mainly focuses on promoting its Real State business through technological support. It has designed its own new frame structure for more convenient and reliable growth of the real state in Vietnam.
Ans. John Le is the founder and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Propzy.
Ans. Propzy is on a mission to change all that, and with this latest round of funding, it’s clear that investors are on board! Convenient, Reliable, Trusted, and Efficient online platform for land ownership business.
Ans. Propzy got a wholesome amount of $25 million dollar from investors for the scaling business, generations of its unique real state framework, and improvement of the online portal of the company.
Ans. Big business players like Gaw Capital and SoftBank Ventures Asia along with Next Billion Ventures, RHL Ventures, and Insignia have made this mega investment of $25 million in Propzy.
