Residently, the U.K.-based ‘proptech’ startup that is building a rental platform to improve the rental experience, has picked up £7 million in seed funding. Backing comes from Felix Capital, LocalGlobe, and A/O PropTech, along with a number of the startup’s existing angel investors.
The new funding will be used to grow the startup’s engineering and product teams, and to continue building out Residently’s rental portfolio in London and New York. On the product side, a number of extra services will also be added to the company’s “Living” platform, which offers things like cleaning and ironing, storage, contents insurance, and furniture rental.
“Residently is building the world’s rental brand with a platform for rental properties designed around the needs of the renter,” says co-founder and CEO Tom Allason, who previously founded and exited Shutl to eBay.
“Residents enjoy a seamless digital rental experience, can choose their move in date, a furniture package, cleaning service and move seamlessly from property to property within the network. Property owners benefit from reduced void periods and lower fees than traditional agents”.
At the heart of Residently is a mission to “digitise” the rental experience through clever use of technology, coupled with a consumer-friendly mindset, in order to upgrade the experience of renting.
The platform lets renters search for properties, arrange viewings, take virtual tours, fill in forms and submit references, and pay deposits via a mobile app. Broadband and other utilities are set up in advance and the startup promises flexible move in dates. Residently’s add-on services include help with moving, storage, furniture rental, cleaning and digital locks — again, all managed via the app.
For landlords, Residently offers a property management service for viewings, paperwork, property maintenance and renewals. As part of its marketing package, Residently will individually style and furnish a property to help potential renters visualise “exactly how their home could look,” says the company.
“We compete for supply with estate agents (e.g. Foxtons, Savills, Countrywide) as well as to a lesser extent serviced apartment providers who are taking residential properties off market,” says Allason. “We look at the renter as our customer rather and seek to develop that relationship over multiple tenancies and properties which we can monetise with services”.
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