Former Microsoft and eBay man Shivkumar Krishnan has been appointed CTO of 99 Group and will be at the forefront of a massive tech hiring drive for the group as it looks to combat PropertyGuru in the region.
The company is looking to hire tech specialists in varied fields such as UX, data science and front end engineering as Southeast Asians are turning in increasing numbers to property portals instead of more traditional offline methods in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.
Since engaging in a joint venture with REA Group-controlled iProperty in 2019, the list of property portals in the region under the REA-99 umbrella includes 99.co, iProperty, and Rumah123. With eternal Southeast Asian rival PropertyGuru recently announcing an impressive tranche of investment destined for its tech departments, the move by 99 Group to hire specialists in this area was perhaps an inevitability to keep pace.