♦ The start-up wants to transparent the rental market by eliminating the intermediaries and offering an end-to-end platform, with standardized contracts that can be negotiated and sign online ♦ The platform is free for tenants and owners, the business model based on the monetization of the aggregate data sold to investors and real estate developers, and a real estate Find properties using natural language, and will add sales modules and commercial spaces by the end of the year.
The Romanian Rentnbuy prophech start-up, which has developed a platform that directly connects the owners and tenants, has set out to reach 600,000 monthly visits and 70,000 users accounts created by the end of this year, given that the platform was launched in a first variant in April, and so far has attracted over 300,000 users. The targets are supported by a pre-Seed financing of 550,000 euros, attracted this year from a group of investors that also includes a Venture Capital Fund in San Francisco. This supports the development of technology, marketing investments, but also extension plans outside Romania, scheduled for the beginning of next year. «From the point of view of visits on the site, we want to reach 600,000 visits a month, which would place us in the third place in Romania after Imobiliare.ro and Storia.ro, and by far the largest direct rental platform, which we are and at the moment, even with 300,000 users. From the point of view of the users, because our people are in the point of view, because for us, because we are in our account, because Let's reach 70,000 accounts by the end of the year, ”said Alex Kis, co -founder and CEO of Rentnbuy, as part of the ZF IT Generation, adding that the number of properties listed on the platform is increasing. «A property does not stay very long on the platform. We, for the moment, on average, now have between 30 and 35 new properties a day, and the goal is to reach 100 new properties a day until the end of the year. Which may seem a small number, but if we think, in Romania there are between 600 and 1,000 other properties. Either of 10 different real estate agents, but in reality the offer of real estate is quite limited in Romania. ” The idea of the Rentnbuy platform appeared in October 2024, from the experience of the founder accumulated on the international financial markets. «My background is in Investment Banking. I lived in America, after which in the UK and the Netherlands. Coming from Wall Street, where everything is transparent, where you have access to Bloomberg terminals, S&P Capital IQ, a lot of data suppliers, I was a little shocked by how lack of transparency is this real estate. You think it is the largest class of assets in the world. The platform functions as an END-to-end ecosystem, meant to provide users with all the information and tools they need, thus eliminating intermediaries. «For any real action on the platform you have to start by making an account. You as a tenant, when you find a property you like, apply for it. The owner accepts or not this application. Once you have accepted the application, your data become visible, and once the viewing has occurred, or you are signed. Our contract in the platform, negotiate the clauses and sign it. An innovative functionality is the real estate agent. «I added the agent AI, who is an agent in which you can truly trust. You can find properties using human language. In the platform, at the moment, if you want an apartment close to Starbucks, close to the university, with the east, this agent can recommend the right apartment. specified the co-founder and CEO Rentnbuy.
Business model
The platform is free for users, and monetizing will come from related services. «Our goal is to remain free, for both tenants and owners. We try to monetize the data indirectly, namely to sell these insights to institutional investors and developers. This is one of the financing sources. The other is the source will be through subscriptions from related service providers (notaries, photographers, etc.) It would be to guarantee rents or propity management solutions, ”he detailed. To support the development, the start-up has attracted a pre-Seed round of 550,000 euros from more investors, both from Romania and abroad. «It happened very quickly. We started gathering the round in mid-March and at the end of April we had the round 3 times» oversubribed >>, which allowed us to choose the investors with whom we really want to work. One of our main investors is one of the most prestigious four Venture Capital funds in San Francisco » However, it discloses the name of the investors.
Extension plans – neighboring countries and western Europe
Future plans include adding the sales module and the one for commercial spaces until November, but also international extension, which is a key component of the strategy. «The goal is to focus on all the markets that are characterized by this lack of transparency on the real estate market. Our business model operates in many countries. In Romania or other Balkan or South Europe, there is no legislation of the real estate agent and yet, to a sale-purchase transaction, as well as 7%. We are present in as many markets as possible, in order to collect much more data ”, pointed out the co-founder and CEO Rentnbuy. The first countries targeted for expansion, scheduled for the beginning of next year, are those in the region. «For us, Bulgaria is» The Low-Hanging Fruit >>. It's an extremely behind market. And besides Bulgaria, Greece is an extremely attractive market, as well as the Republic of Moldova, «he added, mentioning that big markets, but as opaque, as Spain and the United Kingdom, are also on the list. Technically, the platform is prepared for this step. «We thought the platform to be extremely scalable. The only obstacle to expand in these countries is our marketing power,» concluded Alex Kis.