India: Mumbai-based short-term rental platform Azuro has been acquired by real estate brokerage firm Square Yards, which is backed by Reliance Group.
Azuro, which was founded in 2016 by Altaf Ahmad, Sushant Kumar, Sudhanshu Mishra, Ayush Agrawal and Vishal Chauthmal, specialises in offering rental and property management solutions by helping hosts to find tenants, as well as carry out background checks, automated rent collection, property maintenance and tenant departures. It currently manages more than 1500 properties in Mumbai alone.
As a result of the acquisition, Azuro’s entire team and co-founders have joined proptech startup Square Yards, however they will continue operating under the larger umbrella company that bears the same name.
Square Yards founder and CEO, Tanuj Shori, told the India Economic Times: “Square Yards is building an integrated intermediary ecosystem for the real estate industry and this requires the best of technology and talent. Azuro’s innovative approach in grabbing market share in the large rentals and property management sector gives us opportunity to add synergies to the current value chain.
“Both rentals and property management are multi-billion opportunities, but currently under-served in India. We will look forward to scaling this business in India and further globally in countries like UAE, Canada and Australia where we have a significant presence,” he added.
Ahmad believes the acquisition can trigger the next phase of Azuro’s growth strategy by being able to leverage Square Yards’ platform to grow its own reach and operational resources.
Since it was founded six years ago, Azuro has been financially bankrolled by Kae Capital, Mumbai Angels and White Unicorn Ventures, who will now back Square Yards following the purchase deal.
Back in September, Square Yards secured $25 million through preferential issue of equity shares to investors, including Times Group. To date, the company has raised $50 million in equity and more than $25 million in debt financing since 2014.
