This weekly newsletter chronicles top digital themes and trends playing out in SE Asia, especially Indonesia. We will decode policy and regulatory changes affecting digital economy sectors, crunch earnings data of top players, track developments related to gig economy workers and attempt to piece together ecosystem buildouts in some of the fastest-growing, venture-backed plays. You can access the previous editions of the Vantage Point weekly posts here.
Executive Summary
- PropertyGuru rides on growth in core markets
- Astra’s Bank Saqu has an ecosystem advantage
- Indonesia sees wholesale push towards renewable
- TikTok’s merger plans easier said than done
PropertyGuru rides on growth in core markets
PropertyGuru, Southeast Asia’s largest proptech company boasting 2.9 million property listings and connections with over 59,000 property agents and 37 million users, released its Q3 2023 results which reflected a number of headwinds, although the company booked a small net profit for the period.
The company booked a revenue growth of 13% to S$30 million in Q3 2023, mainly driven by its core markets of Singapore and Malaysia but with a recovery in Thailand, while Vietnam continues to suffer from government restrictions on property loans.
Overall, revenues ex-Vietnam grew 23% YoY, with Singapore marketplace revenues growing 24% YoY to S$24 million, while Malaysia marketplace revenues increased by a lesser extent at 5% YoY to S$7 million. Vietnam revenues decreased 33% YoY to S$4 million in Q3 2023. Overall marketplace revenue increased 13% YoY to S$38 million in Q3 2023, while fintech and data services increased 23% YoY to S$2 million.
The growth in Singapore was mainly driven by an increase in the number of agents, which jumped by 200 to 16,309 during the period versus Q2 2023, with a renewal rate of 85%. The key driver in Singapore came from the average revenue per agent (ARPA), which increased 23% YoY to S$1,279.
The growth in Malaysia was driven by the company’s dual-brand strategy, which includes PropertyGuru and iProperty. Revenues in local currency terms grew 11% YoY but the depreciation of the RM versus the SGD meant that headline revenue grew by a lesser 6% YoY.
