ToLet.com.ng led the acquisition in conjunction with their existing investors, Frontier Digital Ventures made the acquisition and will now merge the two platforms over the coming months, under the new name of PropertyPro.ng, creating Nigeria’s Number 1 property listings market leader in the online Property classifieds space, has Entrepreneurship+ learnt.
It will be recalled that Fikayo Ogundipe, Sulaiman Balogun, Dapo Eludire and Seyi Ayeni, launched ToLet.com.ng in 2013 as an online estate agency, but pivoted in January 2017 to become a property classifieds platform and has since grown from 150 to 10,000 agents. The company says in a written statement that it has recorded 15 per cent month on month across all key metrics, including number of listings, traffic and subscribing agents.
“The acquisition of Jumia House Nigeria has placed us in prime position to better serve the growing real estate market in the country. Our combined businesses, ToLet.com.ng and Jumia House Nigeria, have the scale and the resources to transform the online property sector for the benefit of property developers, real estate agents and property seekers alike.
“As we transition to PropertyPro, consolidating listings from ToLet.com.ng and Jumia House Nigeria, there is a brilliant opportunity to ensure Nigeria’s fluid and vibrant property market is underpinned by a robust, innovative technology which PropertyPro.ng promises to offer,” Fikayo Ogundipe, CEO and Co Founder of ToLet.com.ng says.
Sulaiman Balogun, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer adds: “Today’s announcement signifies a maturing in the online property classifieds market for Africa. We are now working with an entire generation who are now accustomed to heading online as a first port of call for rental or purchase of properties.
We are on a steep growth trajectory, and are now in the very best position, with this acquisition, to deliver a world class property search service. We want PropertyPro.ng to be the first website Nigerians think of when they are looking to research, buy or rent a property, On the other hand, Agents on our platform will now be to reach more potential buyers, investors and tenants than any other portal in the country.
“We want our agents to leave the marketing to us, so that they can focus on closing more sales. Delivery of exceptional service, quality leads and marketing solutions that help drive sales for Agents remains a top priority.”
Over the last decade, the Nigerian real estate industry has experienced significant growth, and has risen to become the fifth biggest contributor to the GDP of Africa’s largest economy. Despite a recession, Nigeria’s property market high supply-demand gap fuelled by a 17 million affordable housing deficit has raised property sale and rental prices, with Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, having one of the world’s buoyant property markets and among the highest in the world, for achievable rents at more than $85 million per month.
Notwithstanding the negative growth recorded in 2016, the real estate sector is expected to grow at an average rate of 5.39 percent between 2017 and 2020.
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