Indian start-up Doorkeys aims to simplify home-buying process

SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) – Doorkeys is a new startup in India that wants to simplify the process of buying a home in the country by making things more transparent and efficient. Those looking for advice when it comes to buying a new home may also want to check out this how to guide from Lending Expert which explains how to go about buying without a deposit. Buying a new home is not something anyone should go into lightly, that is why doing as much research as possible is important, and looking into what you need to know before buying will better prepare you.

Founded by real estate mogul Subhash Bedi, who also serves as the chairman of Rising Straits Capital, and entrepreneur Arjun Basu, who co-founded services marketplace Mydala.com, the company is backed by an initial $2 million in capital and it went live on September 1.

Doorkeys’ platform works essentially as a marketplace between buyers and sellers. Unlike its competitors, such as NoBroker, which completely do away with middlemen, Doorkeys operates as a pro broker.

“The U.S. has never been able to disinter-mediate the broker, so how is a highly untransparent market like India going to?” Bedi said. “The concept seems very far fetched. We like to think of Doorkeys like an online CRM system for the broker.”

The company’s marketplace allows prospective homebuyers to look up potential properties based on their price preference, location and other variables. The sellers, referred to as the brokers in this case, are all graded so when it comes to finding someone to arrange a viewing and, later, deal, buyers can look up the top-rated brokers and browser past comments based on their performance. The idea is to incentivize brokers to provide the most transparent and professional service possible in the interest of the buyer, a standard many in India don’t operate under.

“There are over 500,000 brokers in India. It is very fragmented, [but] we will provide them with tools and use their knowledge of neighbors and cities to build a framework around this unregulated area,” Basu said.

Doorkeys does not charge buyers and sellers, instead monetizing through an undisclosed amount of commission when deals are made. The company have already set a goal of $70 million in annual revenue for the next two years.

“We have already tapped into some of the largest broker networks and they understand the value add. They are not paying ridiculous money for leads or, in the case of traditional advertising, fake leads,” Basu said.

Bedi explained that he began discussing the idea with Basu after he scouted India for investment opportunities in the property tech segment but came away unimpressed. For now, Doorkeys covers only New Delhi, and there are no imminent plans for aggressive expansion.

“Launching in New Delhi first is very important because it is a local game,” Basu explained. “[We need] to make the unit economics work on a local level first.”

He added that India’s top eight cities account for roughly 80 percent of the total real estate transactions in the country, so the target will be a presence in those tier-one locations rather than across every corner of the country.

“The founding team will continue to put money in [and] there are various large influencers in the real estate industry who will be putting more seed-type money in over the coming months,” Bedi said. “Eventually, we will look to add a “grade a” investor – having said that, the key thing is to keep the burn rate low, it is an asset light model and you need to wait for adoption.”