If you are new to a city, a student or a single professional, for instance, you will know that finding the perfect roommate is one very painful chore. Other factors include your budget for a perfect place to reside in. To make this job simple, fast and effective, Flatchat was launched six months ago.
The app claims 50,000 users and about 350,000 messages exchanged between people looking for roommates on its Android and iOS apps and recently picked up $2.5 million in seed funding from CommonFloor, one of India’s leading real-estate listing sites.
Flatchat currently holds about 40 employees and surely the seed funding will be used for hiring more people for its product and engineering teams. Another possible improvement would be an expansion into cities where there are high concentrations of students, single professionals, and other people who need roommates.
Gaurav Munjal, who founded Flatchat alongside Hemesh Singh, says that the aim of the app is to reduce the work of renters. The startup wants to save renters from combing through dozens of listings on multiple sites and paying broker fees.
Munjal says,
You don’t need to call anyone, you interact with them through messages. Nobody was targeting this market before. We have become the fastest way to find a place or roommate.
The process of registration is quite straightforward. You just sign in with your Facebook ID and then create a simple profile. The app will then automatically filter potential roommates for you according to your area and budget.
Munjal adds,
The rentals problem especially for bachelors and students is a tricky one, and we always believed that the best way to solve the problem is not with having more listings or a better UI but a behaviour change in the way owners and seekers communicate, real-time. And that’s how Flatchat came into existence and within six months has seen a remarkable growth, thanks to CommonFloor for believing in us since the inception and for this impetus which will help us take Flatchat to the next level.
On Google Playstore, standing at a rating of 4.5, Flatchat is the highest rated rentals app, with over 1100 ratings. Bearing this in mind, the startup seems like a potential tactical investment for CommonFloor, which is backed by Google Capital.
