The house-hunting scenario
Rising demands for varying kinds of housing is a staple feature of today’s world. Demand for shared and rented accommodation from students and working professionals has , in particular, demonstrated a sharp spike. However, getting the right kind of accommodation requires a lot of hard work. People have also often experienced problems with their roommates’ habits, such as vegetarianism/non-vegetarianism.
Mumbai-based Grabhouse aims to help house-hunters overcome such problems, by providing a hassle-free and convenient accommodation listing platform.
Grabhouse’s beginning and services provided
Set up in 2013 by Prateek Shukla and Pankhuri Srivastava, Grabhouse runs extensive verification processes to confirm the details pertaining to the accommodation listings. Even the finest of details are noted down, in order to make the overall process of house-hunting as convenient as possible.
Grabhouse also offers extensive support services, for a slight fee. With over 1.5 lakh visitors per day, its profile is expanding like never before. Currently, it maintains a database of over 3,000 listings across 11 cities, and plans to extend its services to more listings, across a larger number of cities.
It charges between Rs. 99 and 500 for lead generation, and between Rs. 5,000 and 12,000 for extended assistance. Grabhouse has thus come a long way from its inception, when it was largely a matching service involving prospective house-hunters and landlords.
Funding and future prospects
Recently, it was in the news for raking up funding to the tune of over $2.5 million from Kalaari Capital and Sequoia Capital. Grabhouse aims to use this funding to further enhance its reach across a wider range of cities, for marketing purposes, and to improve the overall customer experience.
The use of technology to ensure that housing services are present at one’s fingertips has greatly revolutionized the housing industry, while benefiting innumerable students and working professionals. Grabhouse’s focus on convenience and quality has made accommodation-related hassles a thing of the past.
