Flatchat raises $2.5 M funding from Commonfloor, plans international expansion in 3-6 months
Bengaluru-based Flatchat, a mobile only app for students and bachelors to find accommodation and flatmates has raised USD 2.5M from CommonFloor.com. Founded six months ago by Gaurav Munjal and Hemesh Singh, Flatchat enables easy and quick chatting connectivity between a seeker, a prospective owner, a tenant to potential flatmates and other seekers. The chat application was officially launched at YourStory’s TechSparks 2014 Grand Finale at Bengaluru.
Flatchat's investor CommonFloor.com, one of the leading real estate portals of India, has been funded by Accel Partners, Tiger Global and Google Capital. With the raised capital Flatchat is aiming to achieve the following:
- International expansion: The company confirmed its plans to launch the application in other markets(not disclosed yet) in 3-6 months time.
- Hiring: Strengthening the product team
- Scaling up: Operations in the existing markets will be expanded and foothold across the country, especially in the cities which have a higher population of students and bachelors, will be established as well.
Gaurav explained,
We’re currently Tinder-like application where the content is sourced/populated by the user only without any foot soldiers or operational team (on ground). We plan to add the new supply side to the operations, mostly in new cities.
Gaurav believes that the rentals problem for the bachelors cannot be solved with having more listings or a better UI but a behaviour change in the way owners and seekers communicate, real-time. Within six months, Flatchat has crossed 50,000+ users across both Android and iOS platforms, with 80% of the traffic coming from Android. More than 350,000 messages were exchanged on the platform last month and the product has seen a growth of 100% MOM. Currently operating in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad , this broker-free platform also gives an option to chat with an accommodation assistant to help with queries and in solving issues, if any.
Gaurav's earlier company Flat.to was acquired by CommonFloor in April 2014, and only six months down the Flatchat was born. After more than a year, the deal could be called a well planned decision. During the time of acquisition, Gaurav had mentioned that CommonFloor team believed in the vision and shared the values of his company. He was then keen to embark on a journey with CommonFloor avoiding repeating some mistakes under the guidance of Sumit and his team. Even today, Gaurav believes that the common DNA(of Flatchat & Commonfloor team) has played an important role in the growth of both the companies.
Earlier this year, messaging platform for all consumer-to-business interaction, Akosha raised Rs 100 cr from Sequoia Capital whereas its rival Haptik bagged $1M last year. With more than 1000 messages exchanged everyday on its platform and a robust growth, Flatchat would certainly be looking to leverage the customer base.