The urban population is growing exponentially. Indian urban population is expected to reach 600 million by 2030.  As per the United Nations World Cities Report 2016, around 9.6 million people will move only to New Delhi by 2030. In this scenario, the crisis for accommodation for this huge population has become a major problem. However, the Indian cities are slowly gearing up to face this problem with innovative concepts such as co-living. RentRoomi, a Jaipur based startup has added a new dimension to co-living by allowing the tenants to choose not only the living space but also the roommates with whom they want to share their space. StartupTalky interviewed  Nitin Sharma, the man behind RentRoomi to understand more about this innovative startup.

RentRoomi is currently operating in Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Thereby making it easier to find Rooms and Roommates in the city.

About RentRoomi
Co-living in India
RentRoomi Founder and Team
How was RentRoomi Started
What is RentRoomi
RentRoomi – Revenue Model
RentRoomi – Competitors
RentRoomi – Awards
RentRoomi – Growth
RentRoomi – Future Plans

About RentRoomi

India’s biggest tech-enabled marketplace for affordable housing, RentRoomi is one of the fastest growing companies for sharing home space. RentRoomi simplifies the search for accommodation by doing away with the hassles of fake listing and endless site visits. The company exists to solve the problem of generationY by letting them find suitable accommodation in cities and provides an option to find preferable roommates as well.

RentRoomi is currently operating in Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

At RentRoomi, we dedicate our passion and performance toward our collective goal of providing a better and more affordable solution to stay for people at nominal prices. We are on a mission to build more transparency and trust into this business along with process with the goal of increasing more positive living experiences! – Nitin, Founder of RentRoomi

Co-living in India

India, the world’s fastest growing economy is also home to the world’s largest youth population. By 2020, the average age in India will be 29 thus India is set to become the world’s youngest country with 64% of its population in the working age group. Besides, with the increasingly growing work stints, younger workers in megacities are typically moving every six months. Millennials from across the country are migrating to big cities like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc.

“The concept of co-living in India is still at a developing as compared to the US and China. But owing to the ever-increasing number of youth who are shifting to cities, the future of co-living in the country does appear broad and promising” – Nitin

The depth in the market is already there with $20 Billion market size. It’s just a matter of providing growth with quality to an existing market, by consolidating it under brand umbrellas.

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RentRoomi – Founder

Nitin Sharma is the Founder and CEO of RentRoomi. An engineer by qualification, Nitin worked in a software development company as a project planning and business developer prior to starting RentRoomi.

How was RentRoomi Started

“The idea of cohabitation isn’t a new one”.

Nitin got the idea for RentRoomi from his father. Nitin’s father had moved to Rajasthan in the eighties. At that time he was earning just a meager salary of INR 740. He had a family to look after and could not spend much on house rent. Nitin’s father then decided to share a room with another family, thereby halving the cost and expenses. Nitin realized the benefit in incorporating the same concept into his business model. He saw how people today make a lot of money but are equally saddled by the high cost of living and believed that he could make it easier for the youth to find a good living space at an affordable rent.

Again, as an engineering student residing in a college hostel, Nitin recognized the importance of finding the right roommate.  

Recalling his hostel days Nitin said,  “From the one that bullies, to the one who leaves his dirty socks under your bed, from a kleptomaniac to a self-proclaimed ‘bhakt’, in college and then work life, I encountered numerous types of roommates. Though some became friends for life, others were a disastrous experience, which left me disgruntled. After swallowing this bitter pill and learning from my ordeal, I decided to build a platform catering to those who wanted to share a flat or a room, and looking for the right ‘roomi’.”

With help from some of his friends, Nitin started RentRoomi in 2016. When the company started off, roping in flat owners and vendors was a challenging task.

“While initially, it meant expending a lot of energy in convincing, it became an easier task when the owners realized that they stood to benefit as well,” says Nitin.

What is RentRoomi

India’s biggest tech-enabled marketplace for affordable housing. RentRoomi makes it easier for the youth and millennial moving out of their hometowns to find rented space in the new city. Through the platform, one can find whole properties for rent and can find roommates and room seekers to share a room with.

One can search for rooms or flats based on price, locality and the amenities available. Besides, the platform provides the opportunity to know about the fellow roommates before selecting a room or apartment. Thus it facilitates finding like minded roommates with whom one can share the living costs, utility bills, etc.

Also, the platform lets house owners list their properties with details about price and amenities.

RentRoomi follows the ‘3C approach’ i.e. Comfortable plug and play homes, Convenience driven by tech and Community living experience to offer more value to the customers.

RentRoomi’s target audience constitutes more than 40-50% of the population: the heavily tech-dependent youth, who believe in optimal usage of resources, students, and job seekers who worry about finding the right roommate.

The tagline of the company is “We make Community”

RentRoomi – Revenue Model

As said by Nitin, RentRoomi’s core website will always be free for listing properties and for looking for occupancy in already occupied apartments.

Early revenue streams proven highly scalable, RentRoomi’s revenue model is directly related to move-ins. If booked, RentRoomi collects a fee between 1-10%. Also provides value-added services like background checks, ID verifications, rental furniture, and roommate agreements are included if booked online and otherwise available to purchase separately in future.

RentRoomi – Competitors

There are many classified websites that let users find or list a property for rent. RentRoomi is different from other classified websites because it offers the user the opportunity to not just choose a room but also preferred roommates.

“As it acknowledges the competition in the online renting space from established market leaders, we at RentRoomi are optimistic of its growth. Metro cities are attracting single working and educational class youth in the prospect of a better life and this has created a huge demand for rentals. Though existing players are offering rental properties, they are lacking a personal touch. This gap is bridged by RentRoomi, which helps you to foresee and decide the person you will be sharing your room with” says Nitin.

The target audience of RentRoomi is the tech freaks, who believe in using sources to the best of their capacity. Students, job seekers who get worried and tired of finding a roommate for them can easily use this platform.

RentRoomi – Awards

RentRoomi has received many national and international Awards. Few of those are-

1. Ranked under 100 start-up to showcase their brand in start-up turkey fest. (Istanbul)
2. Ranked under top 30 by pitch city organized by Headstart.in
3. India’s rising platform to provide the safest and fastest solution for shared accommodation and roommates by Entrepreneur Media
4. Founder Nominated as Forbes Under 30 fellow 2018  

RentRoomi – Growth

RentRoomi is India’s fastest growing flexible accommodation provider for both corporate and end customers. The company has-

• Providing accommodation to 1000+ corporate
• 25000+ rental properties listed in the platform
• It has 4000+ agents.
• Providing accommodation to 4000+ SMEs
• Shared housing marketplace with 14x growth in 2018 and  200K+ users
• Over 85K+ apartments listed as of Sept 2018
• Has more than 5x listings for 1+ month sublets in Bengaluru and Hyderabad compared to compared to any other platform.

Apartment rents in big cities are high, as are the security deposits; and then there are the furnishing costs too. So residents choose to go through with co-living. Nowadays rental market offers decent space to establish a disruptive concept like co-living. While PGs and hostels have always been there, what is perhaps luring millennials is the new avatar of co-living: standardized and less cumbersome experience, better common facilities, the opportunity to network with like-minded people and socialize, and a plug n play kind of model. And what’s pulling entrepreneurs is a business opportunity that never existed before. Another comforting factor for entrepreneurs is the success of global counterparts in spreading communal living  – Nitin Sharma

Top Websites to Find a Perfect Roommate

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RentRoomi – Future Plans

It plans to enter New York, London, and Hong Kong in a bid to tap new monetization models, according to a top company executive.

“When we compare Bengaluru with New York, the American rental market is pretty organized. For instance, if I provide a verified roommate and start charging for it no one would pay. But the same thing works in developed markets,” says Nitin Sharma, founder, RentRoomi.

So if you are looking for roommates in Bangalore or flatmates in Delhi or a shared accommodation in Mumbai, do check out RentRoomi, one of the the best housemates startups in India.

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

What is RentRoomi?

RentRoomi, is a coliving startup with an added a new dimension to co-living by allowing the tenants to choose not only the living space but also the roommates with whom they want to share their space.

Where is RentRoomi available?

RentRoomi is currently operating in Hyderabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

What is the RentRoomi funding till date?

The funding for RentRoomi is bootstrapped. They haven’t raised any funding till date (March 2021).