Nikhil Rungta joins Housing.com as CMO

Rungta has replaced Pratik Seal, who recently moved on from the company.

Housing.com, a real-estate platform, has appointed Nikhil Rungta as its chief marketing officer. Prior to Housing, Rungta was the senior vice-president, marketing, at Reliance Jio. Rungta has replaced Pratik Seal, who has recently left the company.

A seasoned marketer with over 20 years of experience, he has worked with companies like Google and McCann Erickson. He was the first CMO for Google in India, where he held that position for four years. He has also played key business leadership roles at start-ups like Yebhi and Yatra.com.

Speaking about the appointment, Jason Kothari, chief business officer, Housing.com, says, "Rungta is one of India's leading marketers who achieved remarkable success during his career. He has worked in leadership roles across sales, marketing and e-commerce with both multinationals and start-ups, over the last two decades. He has a deep understanding of the Indian consumer market and has used a mix of traditional marketing and digital media to grow world-class businesses and brands from the ground up. His rich experience will be a valuable addition to Housing.com's growth plans and senior management team."

"Housing.com disrupted the online real-estate market with a best in class product based on their cutting-edge technology, big data and youthful energy. Housing, like Apple, has a great mix of technology and design thinking, with world class UI and UX. It makes home buying decisions much easier for customers. The company has all the ingredients to become the next unicorn from India, and I am really excited to be a part of this journey," says Rungta.

A statement from Housing notes that Rungta's tenure at Google has been recognised on a global scale. He achieved a milestone 10X growth for YouTube's India user base with events like Live Streaming of IPL and Online Premier of Bollywood Blockbusters like Dabangg. In addition, he is also credited for help make Google Chrome the number one web browser in the country. Rungta is also the man behind the Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF), he conceptualised and launched in 2012.

Founded in 2012, Housing.com claims to have million monthly hits, one million verified homes listed to date, and a superior online user experience. The platform provides independently verified listings of every home, conducted by a trained team of data collectors, analysts, auditors and photographers.

With approximately 2,500 employees in 50 cities, Housing.com has raised over $100 million in capital. The investors include Softbank, Nexus Ventures, Falcon Edge, Helion Ventures, Nirvana Ventures, Qualcomm, DST founder Yuri Milner, Viacom 18 co-founder Haresh Chawla, and Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, among others.

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