Online classifieds company Quikr on Monday acquired home rental start-up Grabhouse in a deal believed to have been completed only in stocks. The companies have not revealed the particulars of the deal, though Mint speculated that it might have been worth close to $10 million (approximately Rs 68 crore).
Quikr has been buying out smaller competitors for some time now. In January, it had acquired CommonFloor in another all-stock deal worth $200 million (approximately Rs 1,363 crore) four months after launching its own real estate vertical Quikrhomes. Grabhouse will remain independent, Quikr chief executive Pranay Chulet (pictured above) said, but listings from Quikrhomes and CommonFloor will be made available on its platforms as well.
Grabhouse had been backed by Sequoia Capital and Kalaari Capital, among others, raising nearly $13 million (approximately Rs 88 crore). Experts said it had failed to scale up amid competition from rivals NestAway and NoBroker and had laid off dozens of employees in December 2015. Quikr is valued at around $1.5 billion (approximately Rs 10,200 crore).
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