DMG Information Asia Pacific invests Rs 32 crore in real estate data firm Liases Foras

NEW DELHI: DMG Information Asia Pacific, which is a part of British media firm Daily Mail & General Trust, has invested $5 million (around Rs 32 crore) in Mumbai-based residential real estate data and analytics firm Liases Foras, the company’s first round of funding in over 16 years of its existence.

The company that provides real estate data on top cities of India to lenders such as HDFC Ltd, Axis Bank, besides builders and government bodies by entrepreneur Pankaj Kapoor.

Liases Foras will utilize the funding to expand its reach to more cities in India—it currently reviews inventory and pricing data on the top 25 cities. It will also use the funds for growing its top management team and for adding some new verticals that will offer an automatic valuation model (AVM) to banks for home loans, besides monitoring services that will track progress of ongoing construction projects.

"We are also setting up a consumer site called 'propertyscience. com’, which will offer risk advisory to home buyers," said Pankaj Kapoor, managing director at Liases Foras, adding that consumers will be able to conduct due diligence of developers, projects and locations they might be looking at and also get online valuation of properties.

Tej Kapoor, country head at DMG Information India, said data is king today, especially in the real estate industry. "The market is currently slow but it will come back soon and this time people will make smart decisions based on data," he said.