It hasn’t really been the most investment friendly year for Indian startups. Times are so trying, that even India’s most famed unicorns are finding it hard to gain access to additional capital. And this investment drought can largely be attributed to one major VC player abstaining from any sort of investment this year, whatsoever — Tiger Global.
The New-York based venture capital firm, which poured millions into India’s aspiring, aggressively growing entrepreneurs last year has reportedly made its first investment this year, into a portfolio company of its own — home rental platform NestAway.
According to reports from Times Of India, Tiger Global is learnt to have led a $30-million (or Rs 200-crore) financing round in Bengaluru-based home rental startup NestAway, sources close to the matter said. NestAway counts Tiger Global, IDG Ventures, Flipkart and Ratan Tata among its investors and has already rented homes to about 10,000 tenants across Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Pune and Hyderabad. The company is planning an expansion into Mumbai and Chennai soon.
While NestAway is essentially a home rental startup, its model is pretty different from what others are offering. For instance, the startup takes a percentage from the rent users pay in return for offering timely repair and maintainence services to the tenants. Once a house gets listed, the startup makes sure that the upcoming tenant gets a full-furnished home, at its poshest best, thus providing an affordable housing solution to singles entering strange new cities for work.
Along with that, the company also provides services like house cleaning, plumbing and relocation services. The company turns unfurnished houses into fully-furnished and managed apartments and provides them at affordable prices to pre-verified tenants.
NestAway’s offerings within its homes include the obvious stuff like bed, mattresses, table, cupboard, etc., along with more luxurious items likeTV, washing machine, wireless internet connectivity, DTH and refrigerators, It also provides pillows and bed covers which it claims to change every week with monthly electric check-up.
The investment also brings Tiger Global back to the Indian investment table, in an year which has otherwise been a dampener of sorts. Apart from an announced investment in TheViralFever in February (deal was closed way back in December last year) and latest one in Blackbuck, one of the most prolific consumer internet investors India has ever seen, has largely pulled back from the Indian market.
