Existing investors IDG India and Tiger Global also participated in the round, with the latter having invested between $5 million and $8 million, according to people aware of the transaction details.
The company will use the capital to expand into newer segments, according to Amarendra Sahu, the company’s cofounder.
The deal marks one of the largest rounds of funding led by financial investors in the last one year in the consumer-facing startup space, which has primarily seen large strategics like SoftBank and players like China’s Alibaba and Tencent become big financiers.
“NestAway is at the forefront of using technology and a hands-on, customer-centric approach to solving complex housing market problems in India’s largest cities,” said Niladri Mukhopadhyay, MD at Goldman Sachs. The startup is expected to be valued at about $200 million after this investment, making it one of the best funded and valued startups in the co-living space in India.
Before this round, it had raised about $45 million from investors including Flipkart.
The firm does not take a brokerage fee from property owners or tenants. NestAway manages the entire rental service including finding tenants, collection of rent and managing the property over its lifetime in exchange for a percentage share of the rental stream. The company plans to expand into newer areas of community living, managing homes of NRIs and even student accommodation, a space which will see it compete with Stanza Living, as well as relatively established players like Yourspace, Campus Ville and Coho Dorms. In the NRI space, it sees a potential market of 1million homes in top metros.
“With this funding, we shall work on community housing and student housing in addition to our existing categories,” said Sahu, who is also the company’s CEO. Avendus Capital was the advisor to Nestaway for this deal.
