Brazil’s QuintoAndar attracts Chinese giant Tencent in new US$120 million investment

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the latest capital contribution, the market value of QuintoAndar – the largest platform for renting, buying and selling real estate in Brazil – has increased from US$4 billion to US$5.1 billion. It lies behind only Nubank (US$30 billion) and Colombia’s Rappi (US$5.25 billion) as the most valuable startups in Latin America.

The new investment is co-led by Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that owns the WeChat superapp and which invested in Beike Zhaofang, a Chinese proptech – as startups in the sector are called – that went public on the New York Stock Exchange a year ago. Beike Zhaofang operates a platform for the purchase and sale of real estate.

The other new investor is American Greenoaks Capital, which has previously invested in unicorns such as Deliveroo, Coupang, and Kavak.

The investment is an extension of the Series E round announced in May, when the funding reached US$300 million. That round was led by Ribbit Capital, a leading venture capital firm focused on the financial sector.

“We are growing rapidly and this extension allows us to accelerate further and bring our innovative experience to more and more people who want better housing and need help finding their new homes,” said QuintoAndar’s co-founder and CEO Gabriel Braga.

“We are excited to have Greenoaks and Tencent as shareholders and rely on their support to build a global and lasting company, as well as to have more exposure to China’s unique entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Braga added. QuintoAndar’s other co-founder is CTO Andre Penha.

During the May round, Braga said that the new funds would be used in three business fronts: expand the already established property rental operation, the startup’s main focus, accelerate purchase and sale growth, which was launched just over a year ago, and fund the development of international expansion, starting in Mexico.

Another priority Braga disclosed at the time is to expand the population’s access to the buying and selling market by combining real estate and financial services, with massive use of technology. “We believe that by creating new means of payment it will be possible to unlock the market,” said QuintoAndar’s CEO regarding the company’s development plan.

This strategic focus by QuintoAndar was highlighted by the San Francisco-based venture capital firm, “We see that QuintoAndar has the potential to transform the real estate market across Latin America by creating the best marketplace in the region for those who want to find properties and offering a full portfolio of financial services to make those homes affordable,” said Greenoaks partner Neil Shah.

Founded in 2013 by Braga and Penha, QuintoAndar has over R$50 (US$9.3) billion in assets under management in the rental market, with over 120,000 active lease contracts. It has been closing more than 10,000 new contracts monthly.

In the used property purchase and sale market, the annual volume, according to the latest data, exceeds the mark of 10,000 properties traded, with a pace of expansion ranging from 50% to 100% each quarter.

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