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Why CommonFloor’s $200M exit felt like a loss to co-founder Vikas Malpani

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Why CommonFloor’s $200M exit felt like a loss to co-founder Vikas Malpani

Vikas Malpani thought he would feel like he had won when Quikr bought CommonFloor in 2016. He had spent seven years co-building the startup, which began as a tool for apartment communities and grew into a property portal that reached millions of users. The company had been the focus of his working life. After the acquisition, Malpani missed the structure the company had given him. “I expected to feel like I had won. I felt like something had ended,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post⁠.

Malpani founded CommonFloor in 2007 with Sumit Jain and Lalit Mangal. In January 2016, Quikr announced it was merging the portal with QuikrHomes, its real estate business. The companies did not disclose the financial terms. Business Standard reported the deal was worth $200 million, while Malpani put the figure at more than $200 million in his LinkedIn post. All three co-founders left CommonFloor about a year after the acquisition. 

The acquisition came as investors were growing wary of startups burning through cash and Indian tech companies were buying smaller rivals to expand their businesses. Quikr struck two deals in 2015 and seven in 2016, according to VCCEdge data. CommonFloor gave it a bigger presence in online property listings, while another purchase that year, Grabhouse, helped it expand into managed rentals. Quikr also bought recruitment portal Hiree and folded it into QuikrJobs. 

In an essay on his website, Malpani said he could have stayed in real estate, become a full-time investor or taken an advisory role.


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