Hong Kong property start-ups seek capital boost in anticipation of post-Covid-19 market rebound
- Dash Living has secured US$8.8 million in its second round of funding as the co-living operator looks to expand beyond Hong Kong and Singapore
- Co-working space operator theDesk is seeking more capital as it anticipates markets returning to more normal conditions
“We are on the growth trajectory and the funding from [Series A] investment will bring strategic values for us to expand into Japan, Australia and Southeast Asia,” said Aaron Lee, founder of Dash Living. “Markets with a high density of hyper-mobile millennials and where accommodation is expensive” are particularly appealing, he added.
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Inside Sheng Siong supermarket billionaire Lim Hock Leng’s home in Singapore
The firm is also spending to enhance customer experience through various aspects of its business, from technology innovation to tenant community and more, Lee said.
Investors in the latest financing round included the Asia-Pacific arm of UK property firm Grosvenor, pan-Asian venture capital firm Gobi Partners and Sydney-based Taronga Ventures. Its existing backers Clearmind Capital and Mindworks also chipped in.
Real estate investments are likely to hit about US$165 billion this year as economic recovery gains traction, reaching about 90 per cent of the pre-pandemic level in 2019, according to property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.
The global economy is forecast to expand by 5.5 per cent in 2021 versus 3.8 per cent in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund. The pace is likely to quicken as more governments boost stimulus spending and accelerate vaccination programmes, it added.