Fast-growing property portal Lamudi celebrated its first birthday on Friday 21st November, with a record high growth spurt and a re-launch of an upgraded version of its website.
Lamudi is a leading property website focusing on the emerging markets. The number of global listings totals to more than 670,000 properties to buy or rent, spreading across 28 countries around the world. The property portal has over 12,000 listings in Uganda alone with 88 percent growth between January and October this year.
Shakib Nsubuga, Country Manager of Lamudi Uganda, said, “We are delighted with the latest milestone- the biggest online real estate marketplace in Uganda. It indicates the trend that people are starting to embrace the online service. The newly designed website optimizes user experience with capabilities to host high quality images and more space for descriptions of the listings on the portal.”
More than half the property listings come from its Asian websites, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. In April, Lamudi received $7 million investment to expand its operations in Asia. The company is now the leading property portal in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Lamudi was found on October 13, 2013 by Africa Internet Group (AIG) and German startup incubator Rocket Internet. The property platform was launched in 16 countries one year ago and has since grown to cover 28 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The Ghana operations were launched in October 2013.
Led by Global Co-Founders Paul Philipp Hermann, Kian Moini and Antonius Salis, Lamudi now employs more than 400 staff for the headquarter, based in Berlin, and local teams in each market.
Global Co-Founder and Managing Director, Paul Philipp Hermann, said, “Our goal from the very beginning has been to deliver a high-quality property portal in markets where searching for real estate online is a relatively new phenomenon. In all those markets we want to establish Lamudi as the market leader!”
Kian Moini, Global Co-Founder and Managing Director, adds: “House-hunters in these regions should not be overlooked; as the internet becomes more widespread, they are seeking out the same services that are already commonplace in more established markets. Lamudi is innovative because we tackle markets that other property portals have so far ignored. We expect Lamudi’s growth spurt to continue for the remainder of 2014, and beyond. It is for this reason that we believe our product has resonated so strongly with property-seekers around the world.”
Lamudi launched both Android and iOS apps during 2014, which have been downloaded close to a 100,000 times since June.
