NestAway: Finding You a Nest Away From Your Own

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If you are moving from one city to another for a new job or moving to pursue further studies, the biggest pain point is always the first step of the move! Yes, it is next to impossible to quickly find a new place. There is an enterprising startup with an innovative app to fix that for you – NestAway

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Nestaway was formed to make livable conditions better for people in India with a focus on single people. The founders wanted to create the largest company that is responsible for making living conditions better. They wanted to enter the largest rental market space in India. The whole idea was not just about renting a house, but also the furniture and beyond. Anything that user would want could be rented through us. These tenants have multiple ways and avenues to pay for services.

The founders feel that they have managed to solve the two major problems areas which they had initially identified. Nestaway is a broad solution which can solve other problems too. After this successful venture with youth rentals, they feel ambitious enough to expand into family rentals, maybe music rentals in future. Now that they have established this service, they wonder what else can be started that will help people. After five years when they look back at this project they want to feel a sense of satisfaction and not of accomplishment.

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The founders planned to focus on the first big problem: getting the house. They then saw that people are majorly affected by rules and regulations of society. In this situation, the largest demography was dominated by single people (could be married or unmarried, but living alone). Single people are discriminated in the market and this is the point they wanted to begin with.

NestAway was founded on December 30th, 2014 by four alumni of the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal. Amarendra Sahu, Jitendra Jagadev, Smruti Ranjan Parida and Deepak Dhar.

Nestaway Technologies is one of the fastest growing ‘’Home Rental Network’’ in India.  With a mission to overcome biases and barriers faced by urban migrants, NestAway aims to resolve these issues by providing rental solutions using design and technology.

Accommodative of everyones needs, NestAway provides customized services basis ones preference. With few clicks on the NestAway app, prospective tenants can find, book & move-in to a rental home of their choice. From providing support while moving-in to a new place to providing maintenance service to paying rent, all this and more can be done through an app. By playing a role of a facilitator between owner and the tenant, NestAway makes the entire process seamless.

(L-R) Mr. Deepak Dhar (Co-Founder), Mr. Jitendra Jagadev (Co-Founder and COO), Mr. Amarendra Sahu (Co-Founder and CEO) and Mr. Smruti Parida (Co-Founder)
(L-R) Mr. Deepak Dhar (Co-Founder), Mr. Jitendra Jagadev (Co-Founder and COO), Mr. Amarendra Sahu (Co-Founder and CEO) and Mr. Smruti Parida (Co-Founder)

We caught up with Deepak Dhar who is the Co-Founder and Head of Product and Experience at NestAway Technologies and based out of Bangalore. Here are the highlights of our chat.

When was the app launched and last updated?

The NestAway app on Android was launched in Feb,2015 and iOS in Nov,2015.

With few clicks on the app, prospective tenants can find, book and move into a rental home of their choice. The app makes it convenient for prospective tenants to locate homes through 3 easy steps: Search-Schedule-Book. Tenants can also avail other services listed in the app.

The latest update introduces the individuals to exciting set of features. From getting a virtual tour of the home to an array of filters and offers, the app makes it easier for the prospective tenant to find their dream home faster.

The NestAway app is regularly updated with new features being introduced from time to time.

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What’s the next feature you’re working on for it?

Few of the larger themes being worked upon are:

  1. Leverage the community – When a nestie moves into a house almost always there are many already living in vicinity. Slew of features to let newbie nesties find whatever they need to help them settle in conveniently.
  2. Make sharing frictionless – In a shared living context the whole sharing process should be as frictionless as possible whether it is sharing costs for electricity or sharing internet bandwidth or making decisions like what to have in dinner or who will do what this week!
  3. Take things online – Visualisation of houses, Signing of agreements, Registration of agreements, KYC for tenants.
  4. Smart Houses – Smart Locks, Smart Electricity Meters
  5. Safety and security – It is one of the top priority for NestAway. With this as their focus, the company plans to use advanced technology to provide top notch safety and security measures. Hence, Nestaway will soon introduce interesting safety features which will be extremely useful to the nesties.

What’s that one unique feature in your app that other similar apps don’t have?

NestAway’s services are holistic in nature as they provide end-to-end solutions. Apart from providing the basic service of allowing users to go through the various properties and book their home, the app allow tenants to store all the important information like rental agreements and rent receipts. Added to that, it allows tenants to pay their deposit and monthly rent through the app. It also allows them to raise any service and maintenance issue, thereby, making life easier for the tenant and the owner!

How would your app help my readers in his/her shifting to a new city?

The immediate problem an urban migrant faces while moving to a new city is to find a good accommodation basis their needs and preferences. Here’s where NestAway comes to rescue by helping the tenant find a home of their choice. The NestAway app allows prospective tenants to browse through fully furnished rooms, houses, flats, apartments and homes. The apps allows one to filter their searches to find the right home. Additionally, it allows them to instantly book flats of their choice.

At Nestaway, we are have tried to create an ecosystem of services where the tenant can raise a ticket for any service related issue and we ensure that it is dealt with at priority.

How many downloads has your app seen?

The app has more than 600 thousand downloads across iOS and Android.

Which all cities is your service available in within India. Please give detailed stats on number of places in each city and how many renters you’ve settled in the past few months.

As one of the fastest growing companies in online managed home rental segment, NestAway is available in eight cities – Bengaluru, New Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Pune, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad and Mumbai – and plans to cover more cities by 2020. NestAway has over 25,000 tenants across cities with 8,000 owners.

Which all platforms is your app available on? Plans to bring it on others?

The app is currently available on Android and iOS.

How much does your app/service cost?

The app is available for free of cost. There is no extra charge involved for installing the app and browsing through our various properties.

This app looks like a good idea that is solving a fundamental problem. We will be following them closely to get you updates from them.

About Shakthi

I am a Tech Blogger, Disability Activist, Keynote Speaker, Startup Mentor and Digital Branding Consultant. Also a McKinsey Executive Panel Member. Also known as @v_shakthi on twitter. Been around Tech for two decades now.

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