A Ringside View of Square Yards and Tanuj Shori journey

PropertyGuru has featured CEO and Founder at Square Yards, Tanuj Shori, in its report titled Forward March where top change-makers and proptech disruptors in Asia have been profiled. A ringside look into the fascinating journey of Shori and his wife (Kanika Gupta Shori) and the inception of Square Yards, the report talks of how the couple faced difficulties in investing in real estate back home in India around 2012. Shori found out how dealing with brokers (unregulated and non-transparent) was a nightmare, the sector was unregulated and there was no reliable property portal to fall back on. 

The couple was then happily settled in Hong Kong with successful careers of their own. However, the entrepreneurial bug bit them as they shifted back home to set up Square Yards. It is now Indias biggest distributor on the basis of revenues, for primary residential realty. With a market presence spanning 6 countries and 21 cities (covering global NRI hubs such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and London), Square Yards has 900 employees on its rolls and counting! Shori admits towards having surpassed his most optimistic growth forecasts by deploying latest and highly advanced proptech features for evolving beyond the property portal service framework. 

Today, Square Yards can be aptly described as a hub for research, offering need-based recommendations, city heat maps, connectivity rating parameters, carpet area break-ups, livability scores and neighborhood lifestyle reviews. Having conquered the non-resident Indian (NRI) category, the brand then unveiled Scapes, its pivot towards completely digital real estate sales. This e-commerce platform for real estate comes with virtual 360-degree walkthroughs, real-time inventory selection, augmented 3D projects and portfolio and payments tracking for buyers and real estate developers. 

While hinting at future disruptions to come, Shori stresses on the inclusive nature of innovation at Square Yards and how it is designed to make life easier for the home buyer who is taking one of the biggest investment decisions in his/her lifetime. He talks of how the whole value chain has been automated for a real estate transaction, starting with presales, virtual tours, 3D walkthroughs and going into inventory blocking in real-time. Thereafter, these are integrated with multiple gateways for securely making payments along with the post-sales module that covers online applications and submissions, complete with digital signatures. Shori confirmed that responses have been highly encouraging to the new platform and sales transactions have gone up by a whopping 58% (month-on-month) in May this year.