Acquisition is the fastest path to leadership. It drives instant growth, removes competition, and strengthens market dominance. Most successful tech companies use this strategy to scale quickly and establish near-monopoly positions.
In 2019, Bangladesh’s online property market saw a big change when Bproperty bought Lamudi Bangladesh. This was not just a merger, but a smart move that changed the way people search and deal with properties online.
Lamudi, launched in Bangladesh in 2013, was one of the early players promoting online property listings. Backed by Rocket Internet, the platform helped popularize digital house hunting in Dhaka and other major cities. However, as the market matured, Lamudi faced challenges in scaling up listings, verifying properties, and maintaining consistent revenue from agents and developers.
On the other hand, Bproperty owned by Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) entered Bangladesh with stronger financial support, a data-driven approach, and an ambition to dominate verified real estate services from the listing to transection. By 2018, Bproperty had already built a large in-house team for property verification, professional photography, and legal assistance, which gave it a more service-oriented advantage over Lamudi’s listing-only model.
The acquisition allowed Bproperty to instantly absorb Lamudi’s customer base, listings, and brand recognition while eliminating direct competition in the online real estate space. For Lamudi, the decision was a practical exit to reduce operational pressure in a market where deep investment was required to sustain growth.
This merger not only made Bproperty the single largest online property platform in Bangladesh but also marked the beginning of a more structured, verified, and data-backed real estate ecosystem.
Bproperty worked deeply in Bangladesh’s real estate market, managing listings, generating leads, arranging property tours, and ensuring safe transactions for buyers and sellers. But the high operational costs took a toll, and now, as many know, Bproperty has also stopped its operations in the country.
The experiences of Lamudi and Bproperty show that high operational costs can sink even well-funded foreign PropTech companies. For local startups, this is a huge opportunity to operate leaner, reduce costs, and focus on funding-only growth models. Lamudi struggled with verification and trust, while Bproperty over-expanded without pausing after breakeven. Future companies must carefully balance operational scale, understand customer purchase behavior, government policies, and market realities to build a sustainable PropTech business in Bangladesh.
