India's NestAway gets $61m Series D
NestAway, a VC-backed Indian IT start-up focused on the local home rental market, has raised a INR4 billion ($61.4 million) Series D funding round with participation from Goldman Sachs.
UC-RNT Fund, an entity associated with Indian business magnate Ratan Tata and the University of California, also took part. Additional contributions came from existing backers IDG Ventures and Tiger Global alongside Schroder Adveq.
“NestAway is at the forefront of using technology and a hands-on, customer-centric approach to solving complex housing market in India’s largest cities,” Niladri Mukhopadhyay, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, said in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with them to bring greater levels of convenience, transparency and service to both home-owners and home-renters throughout India.”
Founded in 2015, NestAway claims to operate the largest home rental network in India via an online marketplace that allows the company to function as a broker, property manager, and full-service agent for homeowners. Other services include managing rental properties for landlords, handling house viewing, tenant approval, drafting of contracts and rent collection online.
The company claims to cater to more than 35,000 tenants and 16,000 owners, including around 7,000 family owners across the country. It expanded last year through the acquisition of rental management counterpart Zenify for an undisclosed sum. Future development is expected to include a move into the student housing segment.
Previous investment includes a $30 million Series C from Tiger and IDG with participation from Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner. Other investors in the company include Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart.
One-stop service in India’s home rental space is attractive to investors due to a lack of a comprehensive lease management industry domestically. As a result, owners and non-resident Indians are unable to easily manage properties remotely, and some one million rental homes are now said to be unnecessarily vacant.
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