Exclusive: Online rental marketplace SimplyMoveIn gets angel funding from Swastika Company

Bangalore-based SimplyMoveIn Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates online marketplace for curated rental properties SimplyMoveIn, has raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Hong Kong-based investment firm Swastika Company Ltd, a top company executive told TechCircle.

The company will use the funds for hiring across verticals, marketing, augmenting the technology backbone and geographical expansion, said Yash Singh, co-founder and CEO of SimplyMoveIn.

Founded in October 2015 by Singh, Nitin Bighane and Ahmed Shabib, SimplyMoveIn is a rental platform that lists houses available on rent without brokerage, deposits and paperwork. It says it lists curated rental properties after a ground visit by its staff. Users can also see a 360-degree view of the property through a video.

"The idea is to provide a customer experience that involves minimal human interaction and maximum automation when it comes to choosing a rental property," Singh said.

Besides rental homes, SimplyMoveIn lists rental properties under two other categories—corporate accommodation and hospitality. Through the hospital category, it targets customers looking for accommodation near hospitals where they undergo treatment.

"More than 2 million medical tourists visit India every year and often finding an affordable accommodation near a hospital for a few weeks to a month is a pain," said Singh.

Singh estimates the market size for rental properties in India around $17 billion, of which home rental properties account for $12 billion, medical tourism hospitality $3 billion and corporate accommodation the remaining.

SimplyMoveIn does not charge those who seek houses on rent and makes money through commission from those who list the property. Currently present only in Bangalore, the firm claims to have about 3,000 listed properties and plans to expand to Mumbai and Delhi by the end of this year.

The startup plans to introduce referral marketing as another revenue stream. "We are also looking at ads as a possible source of revenue," said Singh.

An alumnus of Indian School of Business, Singh has earlier worked with cab aggregator Ola. SimplyMoveIn co-founder and COO Nitin Bighane is an IIT Bombay  alumnus and was formerly working with Flipkart. Ahmed Shabib, who is co-founder and CTO, is a computer engineer and has earlier worked with Cisco.

In the online rental segment, SimplyMoveIn competes with the likes of Nobroker.com and Nestaway.

For Swastika, SimplyMoveIn adds to its portfolio that includes Bangalore-based online used-books marketplace AbeRuk, Gurgaon-based on-demand concierge startup Qlivery, restaurant deals startup Pocketin and Gurgaon-based beauty and wellness startup Stylofie.

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