India home rentals platform NestAway acquired by strategic player
Aurum PropTech, a listed Indian property technology provider, has acquired NestAway, a home rentals platform that previously received several rounds of private funding, for INR 900m (USD 11m).
NestAway has secured USD 110m in funding from the likes of Tiger Global Management, UC-RNT Fund – a joint venture between Ratan Tata and the University of California – Flipkart, Goldman Sachs, and Yuri Milner, according to an Aurum filing. The company was most recently valued at USD 220m, but that was in 2019.
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, NestAway had 50,000 properties listed on its platform and was attracting 1m visits and generating INR 1bn in annualised revenue. Post-pandemic, all three metrics have declined: there are now 18,000 listings, 600,000 visits, and INR 300m in annualised revenue.
In addition to paying INR 900m for up to 100% of NestAway’s share capital, Aurum will inject INR 300m to stabilise the business. Jitendra Jagadev and Ismail Khan, who were originally part of NestAway’s founding team, will serve as CEO and COO, respectively, under Aurum’s ownership.
Aurum described NestAway as one of the top five property technology brands in India and labelled the capital infusion as a sign of conviction in India’s USD 20bn rental housing market. It is already familiar with the NestAway business, having acquired the company’s HelloWorld co-living operation last year. Jagadev and Khan, who established HelloWorld, transferred to Aurum at that time.
NestAway raised four rounds of funding between 2015 and 2017, according to AVCJ Research, culminating in a INR 4bn Series D that featured Goldman, UC-RNT Fund, Chiratae Ventures, Tiger Global, and Schroder Adveq. Chiratae was the earliest investor, and it also led a USD 30m Series C in 2016 alongside Tiger Global and Milner.
Smaller investments followed in 2018 and 2019, with Chiratae, Tiger Global, and Epiq Capital among those contributing capital.
In 2021, local real estate services company Anarock Group announced the acquisition of ApnaComplex, NestAway’s apartment management platform, for an undisclosed sum. NestAway had bought the business about a year earlier as part of efforts to diversify its product offering. Several investors in NestAway reportedly secured exits through the Anarock transaction.
NestAway continues to serve as a broker and property manager, leveraging its technology to streamline property searches, schedule visits, and facilitate rental payments and service requests.
“When we started NestAway, our vision was to revolutionise the way people live in cities by providing them with convenient, affordable and hassle-free housing solutions. Over the years, we have grown and expanded, serving thousands of customers, becoming a trusted brand in the PropTech industry,” said Jagadev.
“Aurum PropTech has a passion for innovation and customer-centricity, making them the perfect partner to fuel our growth and help us realise our vision on an even larger scale.”
Formerly known as Majesco, Aurum has a variety of property-related businesses. These include a digital co-living platform for students and young professionals that handles rental and amenities management, dedicated platforms for virtual reality-enabled interior design, credit assessments for home loans, and lifestyle-related marketplace services, and end-to-end software solutions for the construction industry.
In the past two years, the company has completed a series of bolt-on acquisitions across real estate broking, management, and analytics. For the 12 months ended March 2022, it reported revenue of INR 65.5m and a net loss of INR 85.2m.
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