This app permits you to purchase & promote properties with out brokers

The Kucing app provides Singaporeans the instruments to checklist properties and full transactions independently

Let’s face it—Singapore has no scarcity of property apps. However most platforms solely permit licensed brokers to create listings, leaving on a regular basis customers depending on them and paying hundreds of {dollars} in charges.

A brand new participant, Kucing, goals to alter that. Based in Aug 2023, the proptech app acts as a “property copilot,” offering customers with the instruments to checklist, handle, and full transactions independently—fully slicing out the intermediary. In some ways, it may be likened to Carousell, however for purchasing and promoting property.

We spoke with the platform’s founders, Mathieu Goarant and Guillaume Garagnon, about how they intention to remodel the proptech panorama in Singapore with Kucing.

Offering a “unified” property expertise

Mathieu and Guillaume, who’re each French nationals and Singapore Everlasting Residents, have lived in Asia for over 20 years. They first met 18 years in the past whereas working at plane manufacturing firm Airbus, forging an enduring friendship.

Over time, they labored in varied firms earlier than venturing into their very own companies. Nonetheless, they realised that their particular person ventures lacked scalability.

A dialog over espresso in 2022 sparked a shared curiosity in making a scalable startup, combining Guillaume’s experience in advertising with Mathieu’s data of the property sector and venture administration. Collectively, they envisioned a platform that might “unify the property expertise” for all customers.

Kucing is constructed on information. It integrates with authorities APIs comparable to URA (City Redevelopment Authority) and HDB (Housing Growth Board) for correct pricing and real-time market insights. 

“There are such a lot of authorities tech initiatives—cloud safety, information analytics, visualisations—that make these prospects possible now,” stated Guillaume. 

By harnessing these APIs, Kucing transforms uncooked authorities information into sensible, actionable instruments for householders and consumers, making actual property info extra clear and accessible.

The way it works

Customers can obtain Kucing on the Play Retailer or App Retailer to get began, although they might want to register with Singpass for safe person verification.

Throughout the app, they will toggle between resale and rental information, geolocate close by listings, or put up a list straight from the map. It’s free for customers with a single itemizing, whereas these with two or extra listings can subscribe to a paid plan at S$115 per thirty days, with no annual dedication.

Kucing verifies listed properties towards title deeds, awarding a belief badge to authenticated listings. If you happen to’re eager on viewing a property, the app’s viewing administration system permits you to request time slots, monitor appointments by way of a built-in calendar, and chat straight with householders.

Within the app, customers can monitor all pending, accepted, and rejected affords, serving to them revisit properties, handle negotiations, and overview favourites.

Kucing additionally options an interactive value map, displaying 12 months of previous resale and rental transactions. Customers can zoom into particular districts to match land costs and property varieties—whether or not landed, non-landed, or HDB—serving to them make knowledgeable property selections. The map is accessible on the Kucing web site, too.

Empowering householders whereas overcoming startup hurdles

Thus far, Kucing has attracted over 1,000 customers.

In keeping with Mathieu, one person was capable of save “hundreds of {dollars}” when promoting their S$2 million property after itemizing it on Kucing for “just some months.”

The app’s month-to-month subscription mannequin permits customers to pay just for what they want, making it extra reasonably priced and accessible than conventional property platforms, the place businesses might cost further for property administration, lease renewals, tenant coordination, and different companies. 

Mathieu added that this strategy empowers shoppers in methods typical portals can not.

However constructing a proptech app from scratch hasn’t been a simple journey.

Initially bootstrapped, Mathieu and Guillaume needed to fastidiously handle restricted assets, rising resourcefully till an angel investor contributed over S$300,000 this 12 months. The funds helped them scale operations and enhance their app.

Just lately, a worldwide outage of Amazon’s cloud companies, which Kucing relied on, briefly disrupted operations, however the small staff of about 10 managed to revive the platform inside two weeks. 

As entrepreneurs, the founders have additionally realized the significance of focus. 

Associates and advisors prompt incorporating companies like conveyancing, mortgage brokering, and insurance coverage straight into the app. Whereas they experimented with these options, they quickly realised it was an excessive amount of to handle alone.

As an alternative, Kucing is seeking to accomplice with these specialised suppliers, giving customers entry to such professional options whereas conserving the platform clear and user-centric. 

Kucing’s formidable roadmap

Kucing hasn’t damaged even but, nevertheless, the platform is seeking to safe a Collection A funding spherical subsequent 12 months, with an formidable roadmap aiming for 10,000 customers. 

Upcoming updates embody refining the method of creating affords and rising the itemizing threshold within the paid plan to accommodate brokers with a number of properties, which may be anticipated as early as Dec.

Quite than changing brokers, Kucing seeks to “redefine and complement their roles inside a tech-enabled ecosystem.” The app he app may also help them handle purchasers’ transactions at a extra reasonably priced price relatively than paying hundreds to spice up listings on conventional property portals every year.

Kucing can also be creating an AI-powered digital assistant to behave as a “true property copilot”—suggesting listings, analysing market information, and supporting data-driven decision-making to make property searching and itemizing simpler. 

Finally, Guillaume emphasised that the platform’s finish aim is to be “a unified property house the place everybody has equal alternatives and may work together seamlessly.”

• Discover out extra about Kucing right here.
• Learn different articles we’ve written on Singaporean startups right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: Kucing