This co-living startup is looking to solve accommodation woes in Bengaluru

Migrating to metro cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, or Mumbai for higher education and better job opportunities is not new in India. As many are moving to cities to chase urban life, it is increasingly becoming difficult for people to find a home to stay.

Abhishek Tripathi, Bharath Bhaskar, and Ashok Reddy wanted to solve the lack of accommodation issue in Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India. With several people moving to the city for new jobs, starting up their business and IT opportunities, accommodations are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive.

In July this year, the trio launched co-living startup Settl, which is completely furnished and ready to move in. The startup aims to make migrants feel at home and settled in a new city. Though launched amid the pandemic situation, Abhishek says the startup has locked over 300 beds as of now.

“Settl is a technology-driven accommodation platform focused on providing a convenient and high-quality living experience for young millennials. The startup aims to create experiences and foster communities through state-of-the-art, technology-enabled co-living spaces,” Abhishek tells YourStory.

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Settl-ing in a new city

According to the co-founder, Settl is majorly targeting young professionals and students and is looking to become the one-stop destination for modern shared accommodation.

“The co-living space in India is at a very nascent stage and very little work has happened in this space. Most of the focus is in working with existing paying guest (PG) accommodation where players will onboard the PGs, add their branding, and start renting them to the tenants. But we approach the problem differently where we partner with the private buildings and we ourselves design them ergonomically for the tenants,” Abhishek explains.

The co-founder says that Settl properties take several safety precautions to ensure the tenants and workers are safe from COVID-19 infection. Several measures such as regular cleaning of all common touch points, touch-free food and ecommerce deliveries, disinfected and clean rooms before move-in among others have been implemented to stay safe from the coronavirus.

The startup offers properties that are ready to move in immediately through its fully-furnished rooms, 24/7 power backups, regular cleaning and maintenance, on-site laundry, and high-speed internet. Apart from this, Abhishek also explains that the tenants will have to pay a nominal deposit amount and the rent will be all inclusive of electricity, water, cooking gas, Wi-Fi, etc.

Tenants can use the official website and the mobile application for checking out the properties, amenities, and the rents. They can also use the application to report issues in the room or request for repairing services. Apart from this, the properties are secured with cameras and tech-enabled devices, which do not allow the entry of outsiders, apart from the tenants and the workers.

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Business and more

Settl currently has four properties in Bengaluru and claims to have locked in over 300 beds already since July. Four more properties are now in the process of getting launched. The startup has also raised an undisclosed amount of funds in its angel funding round.

The startup operates on a rental model and rent for rooms can vary from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 per bed depending on the location, room occupancy, amenities, etc.

Speaking about future plans, Abhishek says, “Over the next 15 months, the company plans to expand its India footprint with over 2,000 locked-in beds by entering markets such as Hyderabad, Pune, and Delhi NCR.”

According to recent media reports, the Indian co-living market is expected to become a Rs 2 trillion (Rs 200K crores) market by 2023 in the top nine cities driven by demand from young professionals and students.

Several startups such as Zolo Stays, Stanza Living, CoHo, Colive, among many others are looking to tap into the growing market.

With people migrating to cities in search of better life opportunities, the co-living market in India is set for further opportunities and growth.