CoHo helps young professionals find fully-furnished rental spaces with a community

of like-minded people. The startup leverages its app to provide services to tenants.

At a glance

Startup: CoHo

Founders: Uday Lakkar, Amber Sajid

Year it was founded: 2015

Where it is based: New Delhi

The problem it solves: Fully-furnished room rental platform

Sector: Housing/Rentals

Funding raised: Undisclosed seed round

Finding an affordable place to stay in the city has long been an issue in urban areas,
but the millenials, with their unconventional methods of tackling issues, have found
newer and more affordable ways to cohabit living spaces. And companies like CoHo
have cropped up to help them along their way.

CoHo is a tech-enabled platform pioneering the concept of co-living spaces in India

with its managed apartments and villas for a hassle-free living experience to the
millennials. It provides managed rental accommodations for young professionals and
students in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida.

CoHo provides ready-to-move-in shared accommodations with all services for

hassle-free living like housekeeping, WiFi, DTH Cable, repairs & maintenance, etc.
Besides these, there are provisions for self-help amenities like smart locks, fully-
automatic washing machines for laundry, ironing facilities, microwave and induction
oven, fridge, tea/coffee machine, etc. The online concierge in the resident app
makes sure the services are available easily for the digital-native generation.

CoHo was born out of a need and a pain-point, which is so fundamental to the youth
in India yet unaddressed blatantly. Uday Lakkar can recollect several instances like
that of his friend from IIM-A struggling to find an accommodation in India's largest
metro city for more than a couple of months simply because of discrimination based
on community background; another instance that he recollects was with himself,
when he was shunned from entering so many residential societies in Gurgaon simply
because he wanted to stay with his other bachelor friends from McKinsey. He says
he even remember a notice board saying ‘Bachelors and Dogs are not allowed here’!

“I feel that the overall quality of youth accommodations (for students and working
professionals) in India is in an abysmal state with inconsistent services, poor
infrastructure and no technology whatsoever. There is a crying need for a trusted
brand with promise of consistent services at affordable price points in long-stay
accommodations segment and we at CoHo are trying to create exactly that, our
response from the market till now has been a testimony to the same,” says Uday.

CoHo was launched in the second half of 2015 and since then has grown to 1,200+
residents expanding in prominent areas in Delhi NCR. CoHo believes NCR still has a
lot of scope and they'll be touching 2,000-2,500 residents in the next quarter with
$3+ million annual revenue run rate.

CoHo believes in heavily leveraging technology as a means of driving delight in

resident experience. CoHo Resident App acts as a one-stop solution for all day-to-
day engagement like customer on-boarding, fee payment, complaint redressal,
privileged offers, community engagement, rating your experience etc. Besides,
technology forms the strong backbone of all backend processes for efficient rapid
scale-up. Both technology and community engagements in each CoHo space has
been key to growing our community both emotionally and culturally. Introducing more
convenience with 3D tours, smart locks, video intelligence, easy payment options,
recreational lounge areas and community arenas is resonating with the millennials a
lot more rather than traditional ways of getting a place to stay from landlords or
brokers.

CoHo operates on an asset-light and operational-light business model with strong

focus on social experience of its residents. Typically they lease the buildings or take
over on revenue sharing model from asset owners. Monthly fee for a CoHo space on
sharing basis is typically between Rs 9,000 and 13,000 with all the amenities
included.

Having raised a seed round of funding, CoHo is currently looking to close growth
capital for further expansion.

CoHo is expanding deeper in Delhi NCR currently and intends to expand to Pune,
Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and other Tier I cities of India over next
18-30 months. The business model is scalable with huge depth in demand as well
oversupply of real estate in almost all top Indian cities.

Bengaluru-based real-tech startup Zolo Stays helps students and singles find
accommodation with wholesome food.

At a Glance

Startup: Zolo Stays

Founder: Nikhil Sikri, Akhil Sikri and Sneha Choudhry

Year it was founded: 2015

Where it is located: Bengaluru

The problem it solves: Helps students and singles find accommodation with food

Sector: Housing

Funding: Series A - $4 million

If you are a student or an employee working in a different city than the one where
your family stays, then this Bengaluru based-startup will provide you with your basic
needs of roti and makan.
Most singles and students invariably find it difficult to look for a place that is
convenient, affordable and also provides good food.

Similar to the co-working concept, the rise of urbanisation has also led to an increase
in the co-living market in India. Zolo Stays has carved a niche in this space by
catering to the co-living market.

The founders and team

Dr Nikhil Sikri, after completing his MBBS from All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS) Delhi in 2007, practised as a doctor for a while in Singapore IMH (Institute of
Mental Health). He then went on to pursue management at the Indian School of
Business (ISB) Hyderabad (2011-12).

Co-founder of Zolo, Nikhil Sikri

After ISB, he worked in the corporate sector for some time with Cerner Corporation
and Deloitte. At Deloitte, Nikhil met Sneha Choudhry, who later became a co-founder
of Zolo, and eventually his life partner. The third co-founder is Akhil Sikri, brother of
Nikhil, and a computer science engineering graduate from IIT Delhi. Akhil is the CTO
of Zolo.

“Earlier, we had a product that was related to educational technology. Sneha and
Akhil were working on the product called AugBrain from 2014-15. At that point in
time, I was only moonlighting for them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a right model
for the product. So we decided to start something that could impact more lives, and
thus moved on from education to housing as a sector. That’s how Zolo was started,”
says Nikhil Sikri, Co-founder and CEO, Zolo.

The company has 600 employees spread across five cities where it operates from.
Zolo Stays aims at managing entire end-to-end services for its customers. It started
operations on the lines of OYO Rooms and ramped up its inventory to almost 18,000
beds.

Akhi
Sikri, Co-founder, Zolo

However, the firm decided to change its business model after six months of
operations to give more value to customers. From 18,000 beds, they reduced to zero
inventory to change its business model to “full-stack,” where the firm takes care of
allied customer experiences like food, DTH, housekeeping, WiFi, community
services etc.

How it works and the differentiator factor

Nikhil explains the working of Zolo Stays. “We take up (on lease) residential towers
from builders like Sobha in their society under our programme, called Zolo Select.
We manage their towers and provide all amenities to tenants. This concept did not
exist before we arrived. In our “Select” segment we have 40 percent of occupants
who are above 40 years old. These tenants stay away from their families for multiple
reasons including work related projects.”

It has another model called Zolo Standard. “Under this, we lease out small buildings
like G+5, G+4 where premium amenities like pool, club, tennis court, etc, don’t exist.
These buildings consist of 50-70 rooms,” says Nikhil.

“Fresh graduates normally prefer the Standard segment and the cost comes to an
average of Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per month for twin-sharing. On the select side, it is
Rs 12,000 on an average. Our rooms are in Bengaluru, Chennai, NCR, Pune and
Kota. We have also recently started in Hyderabad. There are a total of 10,000 beds
as of now,” explains Nikhil.
The leased period with the builders are typically between three and nine years, and
with customers, the agreement is for 11 months. It takes a month’s security as part
of the rental agreement. It provides six amenities – food, housekeeping, DTH, WiFi,
concierge, repairs and maintenance. The food provided by the firm is a mix of both
South and North Indian, with a slight regional variation.

Room at Zolo Stays

About the differentiator, Nikhil says, “Our costs are around 25 percent lower than
industry standards with a very high customer satisfaction score.”

Revenue, market and competitors

Nikhil explains that revenues come from the fee that is charged from customers for
services and rentals on the property. Over the past three years, the firm says it has
helped 15,000 individuals find reasonable and high-quality living facilities across its
80+ properties in five cities.

The paying guest market in India is largely unorganised, with a huge gap in
affordable living space. With dirty rooms, and no focus on food, Zolo saw a potential
in the market to make it more organised.

The PG and hostels market is estimated to be about $40 billion in India, and the
market is growing at 16-18 percent per annum. There are a few competitors like
Homigo, CoHo, Stanza and StayAbode, etc. But with more than 10,000 beds, Zolo
claims to be the largest co-living space provider in India.

Talking about revenue, Nikhil, says, “Our annualised revenue run rate today is Rs 85
crore, and we are growing at 15 percent month on month.”
Zolo’s gross revenues increased from Rs 6.2 crore in FY 17 to Rs 26.4 crore in
FY18.

The startup raised $4 million from Nexus Venture Partners in its Series A round in
December 2016. It is planning to raise its Series B round this financial year.

Future plans
The company plans to expand to around 50,000 beds by December 2019, and also
start operations in Mumbai.

Nikhil says, “We are also planning to venture into two/three student cities like
Manipal, Davanagere, Bokaro, Varanasi, and Coimbatore. We are already present in
Kota. Student cities are places where the student population is more than
professionals. We also want to go the extra mile for younger professionals in the
existing cities. In our sector, the more options we explore in a city, the more
amenities we can provide like - bike on rents, cars on rent, gym memberships, etc.”

Adding on to the list of acquisitions this year, Noida-based home rental startup
LifePad has announced that it has been acquired by Fella Homes in an all-cash-
deal. No further details of the deal were disclosed.

The deal was closed earlier this month and post-acquisition, the 10-member
team of LifePad has joined Fella Homes, except for the co-founders. The
startup will merge its operations with Fella Homes and rebrand under it.

LifePad, founded in September 2015 by IIM alumni and former BCG consultants
Piyush Bhartiya and Rachit Agrawal, was an early-stage startup in the rental
segment, which has already been witnessing a number of upcoming players in the

market.
 Lifepad
Team

After a 9 month long strenuous journey, the co-founders now plan to take a short
break and launch their next venture by September. Piyush Bhartiya says that they
are brainstorming over a couple of ideas, but are not sure yet. He adds that though
real estate will remain their area of interest, the education sector is also something
they are keenly looking at.

The Journey of LifePad

The startup had received seed funding in March 2016 and aimed to solve the pain
point of the rental process for young professionals who prefer furnished houses.
On the acquisition, Piyush commented, “To survive in this market, one needs
strong technology as well as operations. Only after having a strong hold on
both of these will the players achieve scalability and win the space, otherwise
losing is inevitable. With strong backing and investments, Fella Homes was
performing much better. They have been talking to us all these months and
the acquisition worked for both of us.”

He further added, “Fella Homes is currently looking to expand and hence, this was a
perfect fit.”

Fella Homes, founded by IIT Roorkee and Stanford alumni Virender Pratap Singh,
Yadwinder Paul Singh, Digendra Singh Rathore, Kunal Singh and Amit Gupta in
October 2015, had raised seed funding amounting to $2million in early 2016 from
undisclosed investors.
“The acquisition has helped us in understanding the Noida market and also
strengthens our team. We launched our operations in Noida last week and
plan to foray into Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad by the end of this year,”
said Digendra Singh Rathore.

He further added that the firm also plans to hire across all verticals and grow its team
size from 60 to 150 members.

Fella Homes Team

The startup currently has more than 100 properties in the Delhi-NCR region and
plans to add more than 250 properties by the end of this year. The startup claims to
have served more than 400 working professionals in finding share-rented apartments
and targets a ten-fold increase by the end of the financial year.

Revenue Model
The startup worked on a revenue sharing model. Fella Homes is also working on the
same business model. Based on this model, the platform brings the house owners
and tenants together. After the furnished house is rented out, a share of the rent is
taken by the startup every month and the relationship between the tenant and the
operations team continues, which is a win-win situation for both the parties.

In the entire process, no other third party is involved, which helps the startup ensure
and retain quality.

“The residential rental market which is said to be worth $20-30 billion, has a huge
gap, which is still unmet. Though there are numerous players in India, only 8-10
percent of the market has been explored. The sector, which is operations-intensive,
has a large pool of potential for business but the major challenge that will drive its
growth is transactions, where the major players are failing. Fella Homes is
succeeding on that part of it, which clearly shows it’s a step ahead in the market and
can soon be the leader in this space,“ said Piyush to Yourstory on a call.
The only significant competitor with a similar revenue model is Bengaluru-based
NestAway, which recently raised $30 million in funding in a Series C round led by
Tiger Global, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and IDG Ventures India. The startup is
also backed by Ratan Tata.

Overall rental market

“There has been a dire need for such platforms. Even if the market witnesses
five more entrants, the demand will not be met. Gurgaon alone has roughly 2-
3 lakh working professionals who are seeking houses. This itself is a huge
opportunity and hence needs more players,” said Digendra to Yourstory.

He also adds that to live on a sharing basis, one needs a strong infrastructure, which
is lacking in the Indian market. Also, any player in the rental segment will only scale
with a strong foot in technology and immense knowledge about the real estate
market.

The segment, which has already been tapped by major players like Housing and
Quickr, still has a lot of reach into regions which have not been tapped. With the
mobility boom, demand for furnished homes has largely increased which has
unveiled more scope for the players, says Piyush.

Conclusion
The sector surely has considerable untapped potential, and with new entrants
bringing in sustainable business models, such platforms have strong capabilities and
scalability potential. With many players failing to eliminate the broker-process, the
number of takers for such platforms is huge. But clearly, the major hurdle is to
understand the market and the consumers right and render the right product so as to
achieve sustainability and win the space.

he acquisition comes two months after the company had acquired competitor Fella
Homes in February this year.

Home rental marketplace startup ZiffyHomes announced that it has acquired

Nivaasa, a Gurugram-based home rental platform for an undisclosed amount. The
acquisition will help Ziffy expand in the premium apartments segment across India.
ZiffyHomes team

The acquisition comes two months after the company had acquired competitor Fella
Homes, in February, this year. ZiffyHomes had also raised Rs 2 crore in January
from a group of angel investors led by Bikky Khosla, chief executive of business-to-
business portal Trade India, and Anirudh Agarwal, Managing Director of diversified
business conglomerate Shree Sharda Group.

Nivaasa currently operates in Gurugram, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The startup
creates its own furnished living spaces and provides a house hunting service to
home-seekers looking for rentals in the open market. This apart, it also provides
furnished and rental homes to people and allows them to customise the amount of
furniture they desired to rent.

Nivaasa was founded in 2016 by Louis Pereira, Reuben Noronha and Gaurav Sood.
Prior to starting Nivaasa, the founders had worked in the consulting industry at Bain
& Co., McKinsey & Co, and Essex Lake Group.

Sanchal Ranjan, CEO, ZiffyHomes, said, “A huge increase in rental numbers is

changing how people think about furnished spaces. There’s a sense of 'I am not sure
where I am going to be in three years so I am not going to buy a lot of furniture'. This
acquisition will help us target these millennials spread across the major metro cities
in India. We want to define luxury as an experience rather than ownership.”

Louis Pereira, Co-founder, Nivaasa, said, “Besides sharing a common vision with
ZiffyHomes, we were impressed with the team they’ve put together to make that
vision a reality. We’re happy to join hands with them and be a part of their journey to
make it easier for more people to find great living spaces to rent."
The acquisition was an all-cash deal where all the properties and assets of Nivaasa
will be acquired by ZiffyHomes, the company said in a statement. The current
acquisition will add 12 community hubs to ZiffyHomes’ rental business in
Gurugram. The Ziffy Technologies platform currently has close to 2,000 rooms along
with exclusive supply of around 500 studio apartments listed on it across Delhi/NCR.

Ziffy Technologies today announced that it has acquired Gurugram-based home

rental startup Fella Homes for an all cash plus equity deal.

With the acquisition, Ziffy plans to consolidate the expansion database for both the
companies, wherein they will continue to serve exclusive rooms and Fella Homes
(now a ZiffyHomes subsidiary) will provide rentals at affordable pricing.

Following the completion of the acquisition, the Fella Homes Founding team will be a
part of Ziffy’s leadership. Along with that, DS Group (DSCP) will be joining the board
of ZiffyHomes as Investor Director. DS Group will continue to be the investor for
ZiffyHomes.

Founded in 2015, Fella Homes has been plugged as a branded network of ready-to-
move rental homes for professionals in metro cities. It provides fully-equipped homes
with standardised furniture, appliances and kitchenware, rented on per bed/per room
basis.

A prime aim of the acquisition is to provide all-inclusive deals for city migrants or
long-term travellers who are looking for affordable accommodation. In order to make
house renting hassle-free, reliable and a rewarding experience for both homeowners
and tenants, ZiffyHomes targets to create a successful co-living platform for top
millennial cities of India.

ZiffyHomes Team
Sanchal Ranjan, CEO and Co-Founder at ZiffyHomes, commented, “Market
consolidation is an important phenomenon in the business world. It has the ability to
reform and redefine business ideas, and open up new opportunities. We are proud to
have achieved the same at this level and understand that to enhance our
competences further, consolidation would be a faster and effective way.”

Adding he continues, “Acquisition of Fella Homes would help us to expand our rental
capabilities towards bed wise and affordable bookings. With the help of similar
expertise, we would soon be launching products facilitating to the students segment.”

Digendra Singh Rathore, CEO and Co-Founder at Fella Homes, commented, “Both
Fella and Ziffy have been trying to solve the same problem in the same market while
working with same partners, vendors and customers in the ecosystem. So, we
realised that our common mission can be faster accomplished if we join hands and
combine our strengths. The past learnings about this business in both the companies
have been very valuable which will now be shared across the team. This will help us
to serve the existing customers better and grow fast in next few months to become
the leading player in Delhi-NCR along with launching new verticals”

ZiffyHomes, had earlier raised seed funding of Rs 2 crore from individual investors.
The round was led by Bikky Khosla, Angel Investor and CEO at TradeIndia.com; and
Anirudh Agarwal, Managing Director at Shree Sharda Group.

The current acquisition will add 800 rooms to ZiffyHome's rental business. The Ziffy
Technologies platform currently has close to 2,000 rooms along with an exclusive
supply of around 500 studio apartments listed on it across Delhi-NCR. Overall entity
is operationally unit economics positive and would continue to deploy investment
towards its expansion plans.

Back in 2016, Fella Homes had acquired Noida-based home rental startup LifePad.

With the millennial generation moving away from their hometowns to settle in metro
cities for education and work, co-living is becoming a norm.
Picture courtesy: Stanza Living

From carpooling to co-working, millennials are digital nomads who thrive in the world
of sharing economy. Paying guest homes and hostels are not the only option for
accommodation any more - co-living is the new kid on the block, a trend that is fast
catching up with youngsters.

Co-living spaces are homes shared by several like-minded tenants, who enjoy the
comfort of living in quality homes with amenities including furniture, furnishings and
appliances. The tenants need not deal with landlords, or shell out a fortune for the
space.

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report the residential rental market in

India is pegged at $20 billion, of which urban spaces account for $13.5
billion. Delhi-based co-living startup CoHo pegs the co-living market at $10 billion.

The market leader, Bengaluru-based Nestaway, launched in 2015, has raised $94
million so far, from investors including Tiger Global and Goldman Sachs. Their rival,
Delhi-based Ziffy Homes, has raised $20 million since its launch three years ago.

More startups are emerging in the space, making living easier for youngsters. The
following are a few.
Founders of StayAbode - Viral, Devashish and Varun

1. StayAbode

This Bengaluru-based startup facilitates affordable co-living in the city. Started in

2016 by Viral Chhajer, Varun Bhalla and Devashish Dalmiya, StayAdobe
differentiates itself by adding a layer of service to what is already available. As of last
year, StayAbobe claimed to have over 300 beds across five properties in South
Bengaluru, with monthly rents ranging from Rs 12,500 to 35,000, depending on the
type of property. Tenants need to pay a three-month deposit upfront, lower than the
standard 10-month-deposit that is the norm for the city.

2. SimplyGuest

SimplyGuest is a Bengaluru-based platform that not only aggregates housing options

for working professionals, but also has a hostel of its own. Founded by Mayank
Pokharna, Subbu Athikunte, and Ambareesha AV, SimplyGuest offers fully-furnished
homes to single, working professionals in close proximity to their workplace. The
accommodation provided by the platform is completely managed, and hassle-free,
and rent includes electricity, water, 30-100 mbps WiFi, DTH, domestic help, repairs
and maintenance, and unlimited LPG. As of January, SimplyGuest’s annual revenue
was at Rs 1.6 crore.
 Team @ Placio

3. Placio

Noida-based Placio offers fully furnished private and shared accommodation for
students. The platform is built on the concept of community-based living and entails
co-living in an environment where the user’s experience is more important than
simple living. It has raised $2 million pre-Series A funding from Prestellar Ventures,
and plans to expand to Southeast Asia. The platform offers comfortable and
affordable living solutions for college students - from basic budget to high-end luxury
accommodation with pool/table tennis, PlayStation, book exchange counters, and
other facilities.

4. YourOwnROOM

YourOwnROOM is a Bengaluru-based startup, which caters to singles, by providing

end-to-end management for both tenants and homeowners. YourOwnROOM
manages the listing on the portal, site visits, agreements, invoicing, payments, and
maintenance for both owners and tenants. The tenants are typically single working
professionals, singles on short-term deputations, students, and people facing
personal transitions like separations.
Sachin Joshi, Prabhat Kumar Tiwary, Rewat Laxman

Founded by Sachin Joshi, Prabhat Kumar Tiwary, and Rewat Laxman,

YourOwnROOM has raised an undisclosed funding from angel investors.

5. Flathood

Flathood is a real-estate platform that not only lists the houses you can rent but also
ensures you close the deal within a few days. Founded by Atur Agarwal, Piyush
Gupta, Dipankar Arhat, and Sitanshu Gupta in 2015, Flathood promises to find a
home within a day, and a 10-day move-in guarantee. It provides both bachelor and
couple-friendly houses, personal assistance in terms of helping to schedule visits,
and understanding a customer’s needs and requirements. Flathood is currently
operational in Delhi and Gurugram.
Flathood founders

6. Rentroomi

Rajasthan-based Rentroomi is a platform that helps students, job-seekers, and first-

time job holders find a roommate to share a flat with. The user can post his ad, and
give details regarding the room, amenities, and price. Rentroomi provides
homeowners and single renters a customised platform to not only select the right
room for them on the basis of price and locality, but also gives one an insight about
their future roommates. Rentroomi was selected as one of the Top 50 Best Startups
for PitchCity 2015.

7. RentMyStay

RentMyStay is an online platform that provides options ranging from fully furnished
apartments, villas, rooms to independent homes. Following the flexi-rental
model, RentMyStay allows one to rent a house from a few days to a few
months. The team works with the owners on an exclusive arrangement to enable
them to rent their homes for short-term guests rather than the traditional long-term
tenants. Owner’s earnings are better than the rental income, and guests who stay for
short term save 40 percent or more.
RentMyStay founders

8. CoHo

CoHo provides manages rental accommodations for young professionals and

students in Delhi, Gurugram and Noida. CoHo provides ready-to-move-in shared
accommodations with all services for hassle-free living like housekeeping, WiFi, DTH
cable, repairs and maintenance. There are also provisions for smart locks, washing
machines, ironing facilities, microwave and induction oven, fridge, tea/coffee
machine etc.

Founded in 2015 by Uday Lakkar and Amber Sajid, the startup has raised an
undisclosed seed round of funding. CoHo now has more than 1,200 residents and is
expanding in prominent areas in Delhi-NCR.

9. CoLive

Launched in 2016, the company offers rentable branded and serviced homes near
educational institutions and major business hubs. Following an asset-light business
model, CoLive currently operates 75 properties in Bengaluru with 3,000 beds as part
of its inventory. The startup, founded by Suresh Rangarajan, has raised Rs 18 crore
so far. CoLive claims to be on track to reach 10,000 beds target this year. It has also
ventured into Vellore and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, and plans to expand to
Tiruchirappalli, Thanjavur, Madurai and Amaravathi (in Andhra Pradesh) this year.
Stanza Living co-founders Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia10. Stanza Living

Delhi-based Stanza Living, launched in 2017 by Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia
enables a close-knit community for students, along with a high-quality product and
service offering. Its charges start at Rs 5,000, and students have the option to
choose from different service packages, which suit their needs. It partners with
property owners and developers for fixed lease and management contracts for a
time period of between five and 12 years. It remodels and redesigns the
properties according to students’ needs, along with services like food, WiFi, laundry,
security, etc. A Stanza Living residence can accommodate 40-500 people.

With more than 100 property owners and 550 tenants, Gurgaon-based ZiffyHomes
offers furnished rooms for bachelors who cannot afford a whole house or do not want
PG accommodation.
When I ask him what he aspired to be while growing up, Patna-born Sanchal Ranjan
says, “Coming from a middle-class family there was always this aspiration to do well
in studies and eventually become an industrialist.”

After shifting to Delhi from Bengaluru, he spent 15 days in company accommodation.

It was a nightmare finding a place of his own as landlords were reluctant to rent out
their homes to bachelors.

Paying guest accommodation came with its own set of restrictions and discomforts,
including food. Rental apartments involved other hassles like broker charges,
furnishing costs and the dreaded interviews with landlords.

Why should bachelors suffer to get the accommodation they desire? Brothers
Sanchal and Saurabh Ranjan sought to answer this question and address their own
issues by starting ZiffyHomes in 2015.

The ZiffyHomes team.

Starting a business is easy, however sustaining it and making a profit are the usual
challenges faced. Sanchal’s hands-on experience with high-end realtors helped him
shape the business according to the needs of the market. He previously worked
at KMPG as an analyst and later with Deloitte Consulting. Co-founder Saurabh is an
alumnus of IIT Kanpur and had worked in SBI Capital Markets as Assistant Vice
President and Mitsui OSK Lines as Assistant Engineer.

According to the founders, ZiffyHomes is India’s first “technology driven home rental
marketplace” which makes it simple to rent homes. It is a discovery platform which
offers ready to move-in individual rooms to tenants for long stays without any worry
of maintenance, convenience of online rent payment and freedom to move across
homes.
The process is simple. It starts with the business development team getting house
owners on board for exclusive partnerships with ZiffyHomes. Post inspection and
furnishing of the property as per the parameters set, they make it available for online
visits - scheduling and directly booking of rooms.

After booking is done, the team ensures that police verification and rent agreement
are ready for the resident when he gets ready to move in. The amenities do not end
here. ZiffyHomes also provides other facilities like online rent payments, requests for
repair and maintenance, and also, several discount packages for different business
partners.

Funding the idea

The duo was looking at returns from Day 1, so they bootstrapped the company with
a personal investment of Rs 23.5 lakh as seed capital. Initially, convincing landlords
to rent out their properties to a property management firm who in turn would rent out
rooms to bachelors was tough.

ZiffyHomes has close to 550 tenants and 100 owners on the platform. The average
number of tenants for a property is four. According to Sanchal, the company adds
around 30 property owners and 120 tenants every month though this number varies.

ZiffyHomes charges 10 percent on every transaction as property management fees

from the owners. The startup is showing a revenue growth of 20 percent month-on-
month.

Currently operational in Gurgaon, Noida and Delhi, ZiffyHomes has plans to expand
to other metros like Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad by the end of this year.

ZiffyHomes has 30 employees working full-time and is operational in Delhi NCR.

Where is the Indian rental market

heading?
Though the report by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation predicts the overall Indian
rental real estate market to touch $180 billion by 2020 and contribute close to 6
percent of the country’s GDP, it remains quite fragmented.

There are several rental startups like YourOwnRoom, Homigo and Nestaway, which
follow a co-living kind of rental model. Other startups in this space are StayAbode,
CoHo, Rentroomi and WudStay.
“We have plans to provide services across all smart cities of India where there are
more migrants who expect quality rentals. We aim to leverage rental analytics to
provide streamlined returns to house owners for their investment and eliminate rental
disparity among residents. By the next fiscal year we would have projected revenues
close to Rs 18 crore on an annual basis,” says Sanchal.

Website: ZiffyHomes