PropTech firm Aurum on Friday said it is acquiring Tiger Global-backed Indian home rental startup NestAway for nearly Rs. 90 crores ($11 million), in a sharp cut from the firm’s previous valuation.
NestAway, which was valued at about $220 million in 2019, counts Sequoia, Flipkart, Goldman Sachs, Yuri Milner, and Chiratae Ventures among its investors.
Following the deal, Aurum PropTech will appoint Jitendra Jagadev as NestAway’s CEO and Ismail Khan as the COO.
Founded in 2015 by Deepak Dhar, Jitendra Jagadev, Amarendra Sahu, and Smruti Parida, NestAway is known for providing affordable rental solutions to millennials and professionals.
The once high-flying startup has witnessed a sharp decline in business. According to a regulatory filing, Nestaway’s revenues dropped to Rs. 25.43 crore in 2022 compared to Rs. 52.05 crore in 2021 and Rs. 78.27 crore in 2020.
Pre-pandemic, NestAway featured 50,000 properties on its platform and achieved an annualized revenue of Rs. 100 crore, attracting a significant website traffic of 1 million visits.
Currently, NestAway features only 18,000 properties on its platform and has an annualized revenue of Rs. 30 crore with website traffic at 600,000 visits.
Aurum PropTech said it will also inject Rs. 30 crore to stabilize NestAway’s business. In June 2022, Aurum PropTech acquired HelloWorld from NestAway for Rs 42 crore.
Shares of Aurum PropTech were trading 8% higher at about Rs. 126 per share in afternoon trading on Friday.
