NestAway raises $30 mn

Including the $30 million raised in the most recent round, NestAway has so far raised over $43 million

Ratan Tata-backed home rental start-up NestAway has raised $30 million in Series-C funding led by Tiger Global, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and the Indian arm of IDG Ventures, apart from Sujeet Kumar, the former head of operations at Flipkart.

The company, which is now present in four cities - Bengaluru, Delhi national capital region (NCR), Pune and Hyderabad - manages homes on the owner’s behalf and charges a percentage of the monthly rent generated from the house as a fee.  While NestAway started off as a platform for bachelors to find affordable rental homes, it has also begun offering entire homes to families.

“NestAway’s customised strategy has demonstrated the potential to transform India’s rental housing market by leveraging a long-term view of the owner-tenant relationship. By emphasising the highest quality of customer service and satisfaction, NestAway is developing an annuity-based e-commerce model at scale,” Lee Fixel, partner at Tiger Global, stated.

Tiger Global, the biggest backer of Indian e-commerce companies, had invested $2.58 billion across 34 deals in the country during 2015. However, the investment in NestAway is almost as if the giant has woken from slumber after being out of action for months. It is to be seen if Tiger picks up its investment pace, or continues to be skeptical of the market.

While Tiger and IDG are existing investors, Milner's fund - DST Global - is the latest backer of NestAway. DST has also invested Practo, Ola and Flipkart. While NestAway claims to have 10,000 tenants on its platform at the moment, it hasn’t disclosed whether it will use the newly-raised capital to expand into more cities in India.  “NestAway's mission is to make city housing available and affordable at scale. This is akin to solving for good roads or water in a city that requires partners who are equally inclined to help build a fundamental social infrastructure in India. We are truly excited to see participation of our existing investors and welcome Yuri to the tribe,” said Amarendra Sahu, co-founder and CEO of NestAway.

Including the $30 million raised in the most recent round, NestAway has so far raised $43 million, including an undisclosed sum from the Tata Group chairman emeritus. The firm has also received funds from Flipkart and InMobi founder Naveen Tewari.