People News Roundup: FangDD, HomeSyte and OneDome

It's hiring season for portal companies around the world. We've got all the latest comings and goings here for you...

FangDD founder steps down amid delisting speculation

The Chinese real estate portal company FangDD has announced that its founder has stepped down from his role as Chairman for personal reasons.

Mr. Yi Duan will retain his role as a Director of the struggling portal company, he has resigned his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Co-Chief Executive Officer. Company CEO Mr. Xi Zeng, who has now been appointed Chairman, said of the changes:

“Together with Mr. Duan, we have established a leading real estate-focused online marketplace in China. On behalf of FangDD and the Board, I would like to thank Mr. Yi Duan for his invaluable contributions and dedication to the Company. Together with the leadership team, I will further build on that and lead the company to navigate the changing markets.”

FangDD (not to be confused with Fang.com) has been fighting to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq having received a notice of minimum bid requirement in January. Essentially the company's stock price needs to recover from $0.22, at the time of writing, to over $1 for ten consecutive business days before July 5th for FangDD to remain on the Nasdaq.

Chinese real estate portals have been having a tough time of late. FangDD's competitor Fang.com is being delisted from the NYSE for failing to file its results. Tencent and Warburg-Pincus backed Beike (KE Holdings) made net losses of $82 million in 2021 while Leju, which has links to Alibaba, lost $150 million.

Vietnamese PropTech HomeSyte makes big-name signing

The Vietnamese housing marketplace HomeSyte has announced that Nirukt Sapru (pictured below) has joined its Advisory Board.

Sapru has more than 35 years of experience in commercial and investment banking and is a former CEO of Standard Chartered in the region. Speaking of his new role, Sapru said:

“Vietnam’s property sector is one of the most promising in South East Asia with an exciting growth perspective. With a fast growing and tech-savvy middle class, the need for digital solutions in the property sector is only now taking off. HomeSyte has shown an impressive growth trajectory in the first couple of months of operations and proven that there is a need for a trusted prop tech marketplace that simplifies the property finding process and provides all resources needed to make informed investment decisions.”

HomeSyte is a real estate marketplace business that is looking to bring trust and data to the process of finding housing in Vietnam's three largest cities. The platform ranks agents based on their professionalism and allows home seekers to compare the prices of offers they see against the minimum, average and maximum prices.

Read our interview with HomeSyte founder and CEO Benjamin Gajkowski

OneDome appoints big names from the mortgage and banking industries

The British end-to-end property marketplace OneDome has announced the appointments of two Non-Executive Directors to its board.

Michael Yates is the former of the Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage lender and helped turn the company into one of the most profitable enterprises in the country. Yeates's fellow appointee, Tim Brooke is a former Chairman of Monzo Bank who has also worked at Capita.

Commenting on the appointments, OneDome Chairman Sir Nigel Knowles said:

 “OneDome is focused on changing the way consumers purchase properties for good, by fixing one of the most archaic and frustrating processes in our day-to-day lives and I am confident that with Tim and Michael onboard, the firm will go from strength to strength in achieving its goals”.