In Singapore’s digital economy, homeowners and tenants can not only find, finance and own homes, but also manage and maintain them.
PropertyGuru Group has acquired Sendhelper, a Singapore home services technology company. The acquisition is in line with the Group’s growth strategy of expanding into the adjacent fintech and data marketplace while investing in its core business.
The key strategy is the creation of a digital property ecosystem for all its stakeholders in Southeast Asia – property seekers, sellers, agents, developers, banks, and valuers.
With this acquisition, PropertyGuru enters the home services industry with an aim to provide easy and reliable access to home management and maintenance services.
Sendhelper is a start-up that allows homeowners and tenants in Singapore to easily search and book home services for their daily needs through an app that connects them to verified service providers.
The services include cleaning, air conditioner maintenance, and handyman and repair services, among other necessities. Homeowners and tenants can enjoy transparent pricing, quality service, and flexible scheduling options from a network of trusted and legally operating vendors, thereby saving time and effort in looking for service providers from multiple platforms.
The Sendhelper network includes over 2,000 trained and verified freelancers in Singapore.
Growing need for household help
According to a 2021 report of the Department of Statistics in Singapore, households in Singapore have brought in higher incomes over the last 10 years amid a growing trend of married, dual-career couples, which suggests that households will increasingly depend on outsourced help to manage and maintain their homes and home services will be in high demand.
With the addition of Sendhelper, PropertyGuru.com.sg will become a one-stop destination for property seekers to not only find, finance (PropertyGuru Finance) and own their dream home, but also manage and maintain it.
PropertyGuru’s partners (real estate agents) will also be able to offer home services to their clients (property seekers and landlords) and cater to all their property needs – from housing options to home finance solutions and now home maintenance.
Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas, Managing Director, Data and Software Solutions, PropertyGuru Group, said: “Our entry into home services is an important step as we create solutions that provide guidance and make each step of the property journey more efficient, transparent, and trusted for everyone in the ecosystem – homeowners, buyers, agents, and developers. For property seekers in Singapore, PropertyGuru has been the preferred destination to find, finance and own their home. Now with Sendhelper, we are pleased to offer them services to manage and maintain it as well.”
Rupam Biswas, Co-founder, General Manager, Sendhelper, said: “PropertyGuru’s vision to meet consumers’ end-to-end property needs resonates deeply with us. Post-COVID, as more people continue to use online solutions for their daily needs, we aim to effectively digitize the customer journey for home needs. We look forward to co-creating tech solutions that will further ease the home services booking experience and increase users’ access to organised help as opposed to informal or ad-hoc sources.”
Ho-Strangas added: “Over the coming months, we plan to develop Sendhelper solutions and synergies for our partners and I am excited about the value that we can deliver together for them.”
