With an increase in demandfor co-living spaceses, StayAbode needs to scale their business to match up with supply. In order to do so, the Bangalore-based startup has secured a pre-series A round of funding from Anupam Mittal (CEO, People Group) and Vineet Sekhsaria (Head, Real Estate investing, Morgan Stanley) and Japanese gaming company Akatsuki Inc.
As per the startup, currently they have 950 beds live and are operating at 97% occupancy across 15 properties in Bangalore. As the company goes deeper into micro markets, they are expected to launch 12 more buildings in India’s startup capital and are also looking to expand to other cities in due course. StayAbode, who builds co-living spaces, continues to be operationally profitable.
Viral Chhajer, Co-founder & CEO, StayAbode, says, “We’re excited to partner with investors that believe that co-living is the future of residential real-estate for millennials and see this as an opportunity to create a new asset class in real estate investing.” He adds, “Capital raised now will be primarily used to make key hires across verticals and set the base for our expansion into our cities across the country”.
Co-living facilities offer several advantages including financial. In addition, some consider it more fulfilling to living alone as people want to make and have friends to share common interests with and it’s also less of a burden when shifting in and out of new cities.
Tomoya Ogawa, CFO at Akatsuki, Inc. and Managing Director of AET Fund, says, “Co-living space is not just financially attractive, but will also enable millennials to have a more fulfilling and delightful living experience through bonding and social activities. We look forward to boosting this delight to the next level by offering our expertise in the entertainment-related field.”
StayAbode leverages technology, design service and brand to create co-living spaces for rental residential real estate market at scale. Their spaces include a mix of small private spaces – a bedroom and bathroom, with communal areas – common rooms, games areas, common kitchens and living rooms, music and art corners and more.
“Given land prices in the country, co-living is perhaps the only solution to India’s affordable housing woes. Co-living allows millennials to buy into a meaningful lifestyle without the hassle that comes with renting and without compromising on location and affordability in case of buying,” adds Angel investor Anupam Mittal.
Residents at StayAbode’s properties get the experience of a boutique hotel, wherein, utility bills are paid, housekeeping is done, linen washed and one cooks only when one feels like.
Launched in October 2016 by Viral Chhajer, Varun Bhalla and Devashish Dalmiya, StayAbode works on a ‘full-inventory’ model. The startup takes up entire buildings on long-term lease, re-do the interiors to suit a vibrant co-living space and sub-rent it to their customers. The founders have strong backgrounds in marketing, technology and finance – having founded start-ups and previously worked at start-ups like Runnr, Treebo Hotels and Roadhouse Hostels.
