Nexus leads $5m Series A for India's Zolo

Zolo will use the new capital to pursue an aggressive growth strategy, with plans to grow from 5,000 beds to over 12,000 by the end of the year. It also hopes to expand to Chennai and the National Capital Region from its current base of operations in Bangalore.

Venture debt firm InnoVen Capital also participated in the funding round, according to a release. The size of InnoVen’s contribution was not disclosed, although The Economic Times, citing a filing with India’s Registrar of Companies, put the debt component at INR45 million ($661,000).

Zolo was founded in 2015 with the goal of offering affordable accommodation to young working professionals and students in major cities. The company provides housekeeping, food and internet services in addition to living space located near office clusters in major cities. Bookings are made via mobile app. Recently it has sought to partner with builders to integrate its services into newly constructed apartments in order to improve efficiency.

The company hopes to redefine India’s serviced accommodation space, which it believes suffers from lack of standardization and low service quality. It believes its reliance on technology, which is still rare in the industry, gives it a crucial edge in responsiveness and helps it connect with a younger group of customers.

Nexus is currently investing its fourth India fund, which closed in 2015 at $450 million. The firm focuses on seed and early stage investment opportunities in companies with disruptive business models, particularly in the consumer, financial services, healthcare and education markets.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Consumer
• Technology
• Early-stage
• India
• Nexus India Capital Advisors
• Innoven Capital
• TMT