Two western real estate professionals, Stephen Inscoe and Carlo Walther, told East-West Digital News that they have launched an innovative real estate listing site christened ‘Idinaidi.ru’ (“Go and find” in Russian). They have received financial support from international investment firms Sorren Media and Camco Private Equity Group.
After running in beta testing since mid-December, the site was launched officially earlier this month in 38 cities across Russia.
Russia has the largest housing market, with more real estate transactions than the UK and France combined, the site’s founders underscore. This offers attractive opportunities in the online business. “Until now, online real estate sites have been focused on Moscow; however, 85% of transactions are now [taking place] outside the capital,” stated Walther, who claims to have built “the first comprehensive nationwide tool to find listings and connect professionals and clients.”
“Idinaidi.ru is the product of over two years of research, including studying sites inside and outside Russia to try to build a really useful real estate resource,” Inscoe said.
“The ‘heat maps’ of 38 cities throughout Russia are one such innovation,” he pointed out, referring to the site’s mapping feature that pinpoints transactions and available properties.
Idinaidi.ru works with major banks, betting on the great potential of Russia’s nascent mortgage market. The startup expects to have over 200,000 verified listings and 80,000 unique users per day before the end of this year.
But the startup will have to compete with well-established players. Among them are CIAN, a poorly designed yet popular online database focused on the Moscow rental market, as well as the startups Nesprosta.ru and Gdeetotdom.ru.
Through their real estate sections, classifieds sites Avito.ru and IRR.ru, as well as the Internet portals Mail.ru, Yandex.ru and RBC.ru, also enjoy a strong presence on this market.
A former Head of Research at HRO Group, an international speculative real estate developer, Inscoe has worked in several European and Asian countries and has lived in Moscow since 2005.
Walther worked for five years at UK real estate market leader Rightmove, before moving to Russia three years ago. He managed media projects at SUP, a major Russian online media company, and co-founded Domgeo, a portfolio company of Fastlane Ventures.
Update Dec, 16, 2013
Idinaidi was close to 500,000 verified listings as of early Dec. 2013, the company told East-West Digital news.
