DoorKeys.com, India’s first buyer-centric technology platform was launched in Delhi NCR on 7th September, 2016. The platform had been in private beta version for the past three months. Conceptualized by real estate and technology veterans and funded by top investors and developers from India, DoorKeys is a technology platform that democratizes the home-buying process by giving buyers the power to choose, negotiate and transact online in a spam-free environment.
Doorkeys has received an initial investment of around 2 million USD. Backed by top developers and investors, DoorKeys aims to reach 8 cities in India, targeting 50,000 DoorKeys affiliated ‘Neighborhood Experts’ in FY 2018.
The platform is co-founded by Subhash Bedi, Chairman and MD – Rising Straits Capital and a real estate veteran, and Arjun Basu, a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of mydala.com (one of India’s largest local services marketing platforms and considered to be India’s equivalent to the Chinese coupon major Meituan).
According to Subhash Bedi, Chairman and MD – Rising Straits Capital & Co-Founder and Chairman- DoorKeys, “Our aim is to build more transparency in the industry across all 3 groups – (buyers/ developers/ agents) that is facing a lot of flak/criticism at the consumer’s cost. Online property buying and selling is fragmented in India as there is no benchmark for service offerings which leads to unpleasant experiences for the buyer in search of a genuine property at the right price. DoorKeys is going to change that by standardizing service levels and by making consumer ratings the criteria for seller/agent visibility on the portal rather than the capacity to pay for advertising. DoorKeys understands and appreciates the role of an agent in making home buying a simple and enjoyable process. The way it should be.”
DoorKeys core proposition to the buyers is “Buy at your price” which essentially gives the buyer power to negotiate online with sellers. Currently in most Indian cities, there is a huge mismatch in pricing expectation between what the buyer is willing to pay and what sellers are asking for. This has created distress in some markets today with minimal transactions which is resulting in buyers holding off from completing purchases and record unsold inventories. A zero spam portal with data analytics at its core, DoorKeys lets the buyer see what his peers are offering for the same property which is a better way of assessing the true market price. The platform’s objective is to get buyers and sellers on the same page with respect to market pricing and move inventory/enable transactions through negotiation in a discreet environment.
According to Arjun Basu, Co-Founder and CEO – DoorKeys, “Technology is the biggest enabler for DoorKeys as it sets the platform apart from rest of the options available today. The platform makes the seller-buyer interaction transparent, giving more power to the buyers yet ensuring sellers gain through its pay for performance model. We are trying to bridge the gap between real estate purchase needs and adequate hand holding beyond information sourcing with the optimum use of technology.”
The platform also addresses genuine category issues from a consumer’s perspective and has to its credit the largest database of brokers/agents basis expertise and is backed by actual consumer reviews and ratings of their services along with a host of other unique technology enabled features. Its business model has similarities to a Chinese real estate tech company, FangDD.com