Speedhome (formerly Speedrent), an online property rental platform in Malaysia, has announced that it has raised RM7 million (US$1.7 million) in Series A funding from Gobi Partners and Allianz Malaysia, an investment holding company and a subsidiary of global insurance major Allianz.
The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered startup will use the capital for regional expansion and tech advancements. “This fund will help us kickstart our regional expansion in Bangkok and accelerate our efforts towards making Speedhome as the region’s super app for property investors,” CEO Wong Whei Meng said.
It aims to expand regionally to 10 other metropolitan cities in the next five years, namely Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Taipei, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
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Established in 2015, Speedhome aims to simplify the rental process. A zero-deposit automated platform, it connects landlords directly to quality tenants providing rental protection services.
It combines mobile technology and automation to bring together a pool of tenants, transparency and interactivity for all users to make more informed decisions during the rental search experience. Landlords are free to advertise and manage their properties and contact potential tenants anytime, anywhere.
The company claims its mobile app has over 575,000 app downloads on Play Store and App Store so far, and a database of more than 128,000 property listings.
Partnered with Allianz Malaysia, Speedhome also provides insurance and rental protection of up to RM42,000 (US$100,000), covering more than standard security deposits.
Speedhome further claimed that it helped tenants free up a total of RM37 million (US$8.8 million) over the years through zero deposit rental.
The proptech firm claims to have managed to soften the adverse impact of the pandemic on the property industry with the introduction of its ‘virtual viewing’ and ‘home runners’ services that addressed the restrictions posed by the various Movement Control Order (MCO).
Thomas G.Tsao, Chairman of Gobi Partners, said: “Speedhome is one of our first investments for Gobi’s SuperSeed Fund II. This investment also marks another venture into the booming proptech industry for our firm. In Indonesia, we currently have two proptech investments that are doing well during these uncertain times — online short-term home rental marketplace Travelio, and premium coworking space operator GoWork. As such, we see great things ahead for SPEEDHOME, and we are optimistic about the company’s ability to perform well in the Malaysian market.”
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“Digital partnerships are very much part of our strategy at Allianz Malaysia as we look towards capitalising on new opportunities and new markets. However, more importantly, we are equally driven to support our local digital champions, startups like Speedhome, and currently have over 50 active digital partnerships across various sectors. Speedhome has been a standout digital player in the property rental industry, whose innovative ideas have enhanced the way we do business,” said Zakri Khir, CEO of Allianz Malaysia.
The proptech sector in Malaysia has seen a lot of activities in recent months.
In May, Singapore-headquartered PropertyGuru Group acquired REA Group’s operating entities in Malaysia, iProperty.com.my.
Last October, Patrick Grove, co-founder of iProperty Group and Catcha Group, joined hands with serial entrepreneur Eric Tan to launch an online home rental platform Instahome in Malaysia, with a “7-figure USD” seed funding.
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Image Credit: Speedhome
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