Gurugram-based home rental service startup ZiffyHomes acquires Nivaasa

The acquisition comes two months after the company had acquired competitor Fella Homes in February this year.

Home rental marketplace startup ZiffyHomes announced that it has acquired Nivaasa, a Gurugram-based home rental platform for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will help Ziffy expand in the premium apartments segment across India.

The acquisition comes two months after the company had acquired competitor Fella Homes, in February, this year. ZiffyHomes had also raised Rs 2 crore in January from a group of angel investors led by Bikky Khosla, chief executive of business-to-business portal Trade India, and Anirudh Agarwal, Managing Director of diversified business conglomerate Shree Sharda Group.

Nivaasa currently operates in Gurugram, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The startup creates its own furnished living spaces and provides a house hunting service to home-seekers looking for rentals in the open market. This apart, it also provides furnished and rental homes to people and allows them to customise the amount of furniture they desired to rent.

Nivaasa was founded in 2016 by Louis Pereira, Reuben Noronha and Gaurav Sood. Prior to starting Nivaasa, the founders had worked in the consulting industry at Bain & Co., McKinsey & Co, and Essex Lake Group.

Sanchal Ranjan, CEO, ZiffyHomes, said, “A huge increase in rental numbers is changing how people think about furnished spaces. There’s a sense of 'I am not sure where I am going to be in three years so I am not going to buy a lot of furniture'. This acquisition will help us target these millennials spread across the major metro cities in India. We want to define luxury as an experience rather than ownership.”

Louis Pereira, Co-founder, Nivaasa, said, “Besides sharing a common vision with ZiffyHomes, we were impressed with the team they’ve put together to make that vision a reality. We’re happy to join hands with them and be a part of their journey to make it easier for more people to find great living spaces to rent."

The acquisition was an all-cash deal where all the properties and assets of Nivaasa will be acquired by ZiffyHomes, the company said in a statement. The current acquisition will add 12 community hubs to ZiffyHomes’ rental business in Gurugram. The Ziffy Technologies platform currently has close to 2,000 rooms along with exclusive supply of around 500 studio apartments listed on it across Delhi/NCR.