The rental housing startup Crib has made an acquisition of the fintech platform CirclePe in its strategic endeavor to make the process of renting easier for co-living residents. Through this acquisition, Crib will be able to bring down the need for deposit while renting a property, which is a common financial hurdle faced by renters.
A security deposit typically means that renters have to make payments for several months’ worth of rent at one go, thereby making it extremely tough for students and young professionals to get their homes settled.
It is also in line with a recent trend wherein property technology firms are joining hands with fintech providers to enhance the entire process of renting a house. This is because demand for such flexible solutions is increasing rapidly, owing to the growing urban workforce in India.
Crib caters to the co-living space and provides managed homes for students as well as working professionals. The company is always working to make the rental experience easy through digital channels and verified listings.
On the other hand, CirclePe has developed a solution to assist tenants in making payments related to rentals and reduce their cost of moving to a new location. The technology of CirclePe is supposed to enhance the platform of Crib, which provides embedded financial services.
This partnership is supposed to be beneficial for both the tenants and property managers. Whereas the tenants do not have to make huge security deposits for occupying apartments, property managers would get the benefit of quick occupancy and efficient onboarding process.
The proptech industry in India has seen a lot of growth in the last few years with startups innovating digital solutions related to property search, payments of rents, tenant verification, and housing finance. Startups are developing technology-based solutions to address existing problems in residential rental industry.
Industry experts feel that flexible rental solutions would become more popular in the future due to growing trend of urban migration and rising demand of managed accommodations among professionals. Financial innovations are playing an important role in the competitive proptech industry.
This latest acquisition is another step in the growth strategy of Crib as it plans on expanding its product offerings and improving the customer experience by combining fintech and accommodation solutions. This way, Crib aims to establish an end-to-end platform for serving the growing co-living space in India.
In light of the increasing competition in the proptech industry, it is expected that the startups would start to think of innovative ways combining the offerings in accommodation, financing, and payments space. The latest acquisition of Crib is aligned with this trend in the industry.
