Proptech startup Propzy to close up shop

Propzy CEO, John Le confirmed the startup had ceased operating Monday.

“We had raised our $25-million Series A round in mid-2020, which was immediately met by a prolonged pandemic compounded by global financial market instability from the Russian war in Ukraine,” StreetDealAsia cited Propzy’s email to employees. “Our efforts to grow the business during this period resulted in absorbing significant losses that we were not able to recover from given the continual lockdown in Vietnam.”

As of Wednesday, most Propzy employees had quit. Only some remain to sell off assets and deal with legal procedures.

Founded in 2016, Propzy is a proptech startup specialized in brokering townhouse sales and rents in Ho Chi Minh City.

Its closedown does not come as a surprise to insiders. Propzy Service, one of its subsidiaries, closed down last June. Three months later, the startup was reported to fire half of its employees, mostly in sales, to restructure its business model.

Recently, Tech in Asia reported that Propzy was in “very early stage” talks to be acquired by Singaporean property platform 99 Group, but it is uncertain whether the group is still pursuing the deal.

In total, the company raised about $33 million from investors, including a $25 million series A round led by Gaw Capital Partners and SoftBank Ventures Asia in December 2020.