Ratan Tata Backed NestAway Raises $30 Mn In Series C Funding New Investment Round from Tiger Global, IDG Ventures India and Yuri Milner into home rentals network.
By Samiksha Jain •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
The Bangalore-based startup, NestAway Technologies Private Limited has raised $ 30 million in a Series C financing led by Tiger Global, Yuri Milner, the Russian billionaire investor / founding partner of DST Global and IDG Ventures India.
Flipkart's former head of operations, Sujeet Kumar, also participated in the investment round.
Commenting on the recent investment, Lee Fixel, Partner, Tiger Global, said, "NestAway's customized strategy has demonstrated the potential to transform India's rental housing market by leveraging a long-term view of the owner-tenant relationship. By emphasizing the highest quality of customer service and satisfaction, NestAway is developing an annuity-based eCommerce model at scale. We are pleased to support this innovative company and its management team as they work to realize the shared vision of an online rental marketplace."
Earlier this year in January, NestAway had raised an undisclosed round from Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Group. NestAway had previously raised more than $13 million in capital over two rounds from marquee investors including IDG Ventures India, Tiger Global, Flipkart, Naveen Tewari & Kanwaljit Singh.
This is how it operates
Founded in January 2015 by NIT Suratkal alumni Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar, and Jitendra Jagadev, NestAway manages a house-owner's rental property throughout the rental life cycle starting from showing the house to the prospects, closing the rental agreement to collecting rent on the owner's behalf and assisting the tenant and owner during move-out.
"NestAway's mission is to make city housing available and affordable at scale. This is akin to solving for good roads or water in a city that requires partners who are equally inclined to help build a fundamental social infrastructure in India," said Amarendra Sahu, Co-founder and CEO, NestAway.
The company charges a small percentage of monthly rent it generates from the house as commission; Startup does not charge any brokerage or upfront fees to either the owner or the tenant.
Now present in Bangalore, Delhi, NCR, Pune and Hyderabad, NestAway hosts more than 10,000 tenants across these cities. Until recently, NestAway counted single working professionals among its target audience; now the company is also targeting the family segment.
Karthik Prabhakar, Vice President at IDG Ventures India, who is on the board of NestAway, said, "IDG Ventures India backed NestAway as the first investor back in Jan 2015. Since then, the company has galloped into a clear market leader and built up its technology and operations to enable the next phase of growth."
NestAway is simplifying the process of getting good accommodation for singles/bachelors and families in Bangalore, Delhi NCR, Pune and Hyderabad.
Now we have to see how NestAway will re-imagine housing for India with empathy with the support of big industry leaders.
