Residently raises £7m to build ‘Living’ platform
UK: UK-based ‘proptech’ startup Residently is building a platform that aims to enhance the guest rental experience following a £7 million raise in seed funding.
The investment received backing comes from Felix Capital, LocalGlobe and A/O PropTech, as well as a number of the company’s existing angel investors.
The incoming funding will contribute to efforts to grow the startup’s engineering and product teams, and to broadening Residently’s portfolio of rental properties in major cities such as London and New York.
Furthermore, the Residently ‘Living’ platform will be updated with various extra services to meet the requirements of guests, ranging from cleaning and ironing, storage and contents insurance to furniture rental.
Co-founder and CEO, Tom Allason, told TechCrunch: “Residently is building the world’s rental brand with a platform for rental properties designed around the needs of the renter.
“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,” he added.
The startup claims to have the mission of “digitising” the whole rental experience, which is underpinned by technology, in order to gain an insight into consumers’ mindsets and heighten the guest experience during the rental period.
‘Living’ lets renters search for properties, set up viewings, take part in virtual tours, fill in forms, submit references and pay deposits through a specially-designed mobile app. Residently also includes an offering of “flexible move-in dates” to accommodate its guests, while utilities such as broadband are set up in advance.
Residently’s additional services, to be managed via its mobile app, now include help when moving in, storage, furniture rental, cleaning and digital locks.
As far as landlords are concerned, the startup offers a property management service which provides viewings, paperwork, property maintenance and renewals. It also takes care of interior furnishings as part of its marketing package to enable prospective renters to visualise how their home could look.
Allason said: “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. 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.”
For more information, visit the Residently website here.
