Kanika Gupta Shori is a multifaceted woman, with an aim to strive for excellence in every role that she plays. She is the COO & Co-Founder at Square Yards, while being a certified scuba diver and notching up numerous other accolades as well. She started her entrepreneurial journey just six months after giving birth to her second child. Within a few years, she has completely revolutionized the Indian realty marketplace.
Square Yards is today ranked at number one amongst future unicorns led by women, as per the ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022. She once attended a party with Tanuj Shori, her husband, in Mumbai. This proved to be a game-changer for her life, with her friends asking her about her future plans. She strongly felt that her children should not be an excuse for shying away from a suitable career. In 2014, she finally set up Square Yards.
Tanuj Shori also left his job, joining his wife full-time at Square Yards, taking on the business development mantle. She also took charge of processes, human resources, and operations. The company was initially operated from Hong Kong, although it came to India soon. Square Yards also set up offices in several Indian cities, while recruiting more ground and sales staff at the same time, in a bid to gain more acceptance from realty brands and developers.
With Kanika Gupta Shori’s dynamic leadership, Square Yards accomplished sizable milestones. It launched dedicated Canada and UAE portals, while growing its business exponentially. Square Capital, its digital lending division, swiftly achieved the milestone of becoming the second-biggest loan distributor in the country by end-2017, disbursing a whopping $40 million in loans on a monthly basis.
She has previously stated on LinkedIn, that Square Yards is developing the biggest and first mobile-only real estate aggregation platforms, Square Connect, for brokers, digital firms, and financial institutions, giving them higher inventory access, higher possibilities, and also helping them boost productivity. More than 75,000 brokers make use of the platform currently according to Kanika Gupta Shori.
Square Yards achieved another milestone in 2021 by launching the Interior Company, which is a one-point solution for budget homebuyers seeking affordable home interior and furnishing solutions. Square Yards tapped into sizable demand from existing customers for interior solutions. The company wishes to ensure thousands of designs, products and options which are premium and customizable for its customers. Square Yards is also ranked at number one in the list of Top 10 Employers in the 2022 ASK Private Wealth Hurun India Future Unicorn Index, with 5,390 employees and a presence across 40 cities and 10 countries. Hurun Research has valued Square Yards at USD$700 million, while raising USD$98 million in funding till date.
There have been several hurdles along the way, including finding the best people for specific positions, funding, building relationships with developers, and putting suitable processes in place. Square Yards has overcome these issues by balancing profitability with business goals. The company has always adopted a micro view of the surrounding environment, while perfecting business models for achieving their growth objectives. This has helped the company maintain its sales momentum, while managing fluctuations periodically.
Human resources have been the biggest asset for the company. She has stated that Square Yards is the biggest and quickest-growing platform (driven by e-commerce) with several products throughout the entire value chain. It is also bolstered by 500+ developer partnerships worldwide, while enabling 10,000 transactions (valued at more than USD$700 million) annually, making it one of the biggest players in the entire sector. She is also associated with a group that backs female entrepreneurs, namely COWE, Mother’s Choice (a group that cares for children who do not have families), Vision First (an entity that supports refugees in Hong Kong) and also Hong Kong Green Homes (a societal improvement movement).
Kanika Gupta Shori’s story is an inspiration for every entrepreneur.
For a detailed report on this read the articles we were featured in:
Hurun India– https://bit.ly/3RVKLr1
Published Date: July 22, 2022
