China online rental site Uoko.com raises $22m from VCs
A group of VC investors, including Matrix Partners, SIG China, Legend Capital and China Renaissance, have invested $22 million in a Series B round of funding for Uoko.com, a Chinese online rental operator.
Xiang Liu, the company's CEO, confirmed the latest round to local media. It values the company at $80 million. The rental site previously raised seed funding from Ferry Venture Capital and then secured $4 million in a Series A round led by Legend Capital last year.
Uoko.com was founded in 2012 and focuses on rentals to young people in second-tier cities, such as Wuhan and Chengdu. It sources apartments from local agencies or property developers with a five-year leasing period, furnishes them, and then rents them out. The company also receives commissions through home maintenance services for tenants.
Liu estimtes that more than one third of the 150,000 students at universities in Chengdu will stay in the city after graduation. Factor in the 50,000-80,000 migrants moving from other Chinese cities and there are about 200,000 people looking for short-term leases.
The company, which has 180 employees, promotes its services through an online platform that has more than 3,000 apartments available for rent. Liu said he has yet to decide whether the firm will mainly focus on Wuhan and Chengdu or start to expand into other cities.
Shunwei Capital Partners, a Chinese VC firm set up by Lei Jun Xiaomi, led a RMB100 million Series A round of funding for You+ International Youth Apartment, a Guangzhou-based rental service provider that targets single people below the age of 45. The investment was completed in August, according to local media.
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