Co-living and home rental platform NestAway in talks to raise upto $150 Mn

To command a dominant position, home rental and co-living startup NestAway is in talks to raise $100 million in its next round of funding.

The investment round may go up to $150 million, according to sources who also confirmed owing it to growing interest from the investors.

Raising fund for NestAway is also essential to grow and keep its dominance in co-living space, said Mint report quoting a person in the know of the development.

This is after Softbank-backed Oyo announced the launch of its rental vertical Oyo Living a few months ago. Oyo had kicked-off operations with two properties in Sector 57 and Sector 28 GCR, Gurugram. Oyo Living claimed to provide fully managed shared residential units for young professionals and students.

Entry of OYO into the co-living space is a troubling sign for NestAway. Given Oyo's deep pocket and Softbank's support, the segment may witness fierce competition between both the firms. This also explains why the home rental platform is looking for fresh and large investment.

NestAway has not responded to Entrackr's queries on the development.

Last December, it raised $51 million (about Rs 330 crore) from Goldman Sachs and-RNT, an alternative investment fund that partners RNT Associates (Ratan Tata) and the University of California. So far, the company had amassed over $94.2 million in funding.

Nestaway, through its app, helps users find, book & move-in to a rental home of choice across Indian cities. NestAway manages the end-to-end requirements of a rental property throughout its rental life cycle.

The firm charges 10-12 per cent of monthly rent it generates from the house as commission.

The Bengaluru-based firm doesn’t charge any brokerage or upfront fees to either the owner or the tenant. It claims to have around 50k tenants and 25k homes on its platform. Currently, the three-year-old firm is present in eight cities.

In the financial year 2016-17, NestAway losses rose by 163 per cent as compared to previous fiscal. According to RoC filings, the company has posted a loss of Rs 97.2 crore in FY 2016-17, Rs 60 crore up from the previous fiscal.