EMPG, the Dubai-based unicorn that owns and operates Bayut & dubizzle in the UAE and Zameen.com in Pakistan, has announced the closing of a US$200 million investment round led by US-based growth equity fund Affinity Partners, with new funding from KCK, Acacia Partners, plus several other investors including Prosus, which maintains its stake.

The investment represents another significant milestone in EMPG’s journey as the Company establishes itself as the largest and most successful classifieds player in emerging markets, focused primarily on the MENA, South Asia and Southeast Asia regions.

The company aims to remain focused on its core markets, which are already cash-flow positive and growing sustainably. The majority of the investment would be earmarked for the UAE, the company’s largest market where it operates the market-leading Bayut and dubizzle brands.

EMPG’s popular classifieds and transactional product offering is deeply rooted in its technology platform and benefits from strong network effects. The company has invested heavily in its technology infrastructure, with its own tech centers comprising over 500 engineers. The company has said a significant part of the incoming funds will be devoted to further investment in its proprietary and highly scalable technology platform.

“With this round of investment, EMPG begins a new chapter in its success story. We are on track to double our revenue over the last 24 months while achieving an EBITDA positive position, and we look forward to continuing this strong growth trajectory,” said CEO Imran Ali Khan.

“With the successful closure of this round the company’s focus will now turn towards preparing for an IPO in the near future, which has always been part of our larger vision,” he added.

Haider Khan, Head of EMPG MENA, said the company’s flagship UAE brands Bayut and dubizzle had come together in 2020 and had greatly increased value to clients and consumers alike.

“Bayut and dubizzle have established themselves as clear leaders in the property, cars and general classifieds space since our merger in 2020,” said Khan.

“With the incoming funds, we aim to significantly invest in our tech platforms to further strengthen our product offering across the board to ensure that our users and customers are provided the best-in-class classifieds experience,” he added.

Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Citi) acted as EMPG’s exclusive financial advisor and placement agent in the transaction.

DUBAI: EMPG, one of the leading digital classifieds groups in the MENA, South Asia and Southeast Asia regions, has announced its acquisition of Lamudi Global, which has businesses in Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico.

The group said the acquisition had taken place before its merger with OLX Group’s businesses in MENA and South Asia that raised EMPG’s valuation to $1 billion, which was announced last week. EMPG had also acquired Thailand’s top marketplace Kaidee in February, which – along with the Lamudi Global transaction – marks a strong push into Southeast Asia for the group.

EMPG owns and operates Bayut in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Zameen in Pakistan, Bproperty.com in Bangladesh, and Mubawab in Morocco and Tunisia, alongside Kaidee. It now also owns and operates Dubizzle in the UAE, OLX Pakistan, OLX Egypt and OLX Lebanon, in addition to several other OLX platforms in the GCC.

Lamudi was founded in 2013 as an online property platform focused on emerging markets. Lamudi is currently a well-recognized brand and a well-established player in Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico. EMPG had already acquired Lamudi’s Middle East, Pakistan and Bangladesh businesses last year.

The combined total of real estate transactions in the Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico is estimated to be US $55.1 billion per year, with a potential commission pool of over US $2.3 billion for real estate professionals. The combined population of the three countries is just shy of half a billion people.

EMPG CEO Imran Ali Khan said, “We welcome the Lamudi Global teams to the EMPG family. They bring with them a lot of experience and domain knowledge, and we value the people who have been with the business since the beginning. We look forward to working with the team to continue growing the business, and EMPG will provide strategic, technological and financial support as needed.”

He added that the acquisition also signalled EMPG’s intent to focus on Southeast Asia in addition to its core regions.

“Our aim is to build a strong presence in the region with these acquisitions. Southeast Asia is a bustling, happening market with tremendous potential, and we look forward to providing the best experience to both professionals and consumers,” said Khan.

Kian Moini, CEO of Lamudi, said EMPG’s expansion into the region would raise the bar for online marketplaces.

“EMPG has built highly successful businesses in all of its geographies, and the group’s strategic depth and advanced tech are two major assets Lamudi looks forward to as we begin this next phase of our journey,” he said.

The transaction value was not disclosed.

Bayut, the leading online property portal in the UAE, has announced that it has acquired the GCC
business of Rocket Internet/Middle Eastern Internet Group’s Lamudi in a landmark deal that will see
Bayut take ownership of all Lamudi assets in the GCC, including its portals in Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
and the UAE.
Middle East Internet Group launched Lamudi.sa as the first real estate portal in Saudi Arabia in 2012,
followed by Lamudi.jo in Jordan. In 2015, Lamudi.ae was launched in the UAE.
The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Bayut’s parent company, UAE-based
EMPG, also owns Zameen.com in Pakistan, Bproperty in
Bangladesh, and Mubawab in Morocco, and has business presence in Spain and Romania as well.
The group successfully closed a $100 million Series D investment round earlier this year.
“Today is a very exciting day for us, as we embark on a new journey to start solving real estate issues
for the largest market in our region. Our extensive experience in similar markets puts us in a unique
position to provide both clients and end-users with a highly sophisticated product that is built to
address their needs. We aim to be a partner to them in their journey of buying or selling a home,”
said Bayut CEO Haider Ali Khan.
He said further that EMPG aims to aggressively grow and establish itself as the most dominant real
estate classifieds solution in the GCC. The group currently employs a workforce of 2,000 people
across all its markets, and receives close to 10 million visits on its websites every month, generating
around 70 million page views and over 2 million customer inquiries in the same timeframe.
“With a network of our sites operating in the region, we are also very well placed to maximize
consumers’ reach and clients’ exposure across a broader region. Our brand name, Bayut, means
‘homes’ in Arabic and our story is a very local one, and this is another step in making our brand a
household name in the natively Arabic-speaking region. With our experience and ability to deploy
significant capital effectively, we are very well placed to solve problems in the real estate markets of
the region through technology,” Khan said.
“Bayut has always focused on providing the most locally-tuned solution to the market, and the
intention behind this acquisition is to take the group’s philosophy to the greater GCC region, with a
focus on Saudi Arabia,” he added.

EMPG said on Thursday it has wrapped up a first close of $50 million as part of a substantially larger investment round. EMPG owns and operates a portfolio of property portals that includes UAE-based Bayut.com, Pakistan-based Zameen.com and Bangladesh-based bproperty.com, and in May acquired Morocco-based property website Mubawab for an undisclosed sum.

“EMPG’s growth has been comprehensive across all metrics, on the back of some of the world’s most advanced digital real estate platforms developed by our R&D teams. With a compounded annual revenue growth rate of over 100% over the last five years, more than 15,000 real estate agencies, and 8 million-plus monthly visits across our portals, EMPG is ideally positioned for regional dominance” said EMPG CEO Imran Ali Khan.

Haider Ali Khan, the CEO of Bayut.com, said in a statement $25 million of these funds would be deployed in the Emirates with a focus on further consolidation. “The remaining funds will be used to further strengthen EMPG’s leading position in its other markets,” he added.EMPG has raised a total of $60 million in its four previous rounds, and the current round is its largest yet, bringing up the grand total to $110 million. The group has presence in 40 cities across the UAE, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Spain and Romania with over 1,500 employees.