Rental platform Nestpick has raised $11m in a Series A funding round led by Mangrove, Enern and Rocket Internet, the parties have announced.
Initially launched as a platform for international students and expats, nestpick has broadened its scope to become the destination for everyone to find their next home.
In the past year nestpick listed more than 21,000 homes and transacted over €16 million in rental income for landlords. Founded in May 2014 by Fabian Dudek in the Netherlands, the platform has been backed by Rocket Internet since December 2014 and moved to Berlin where Dr. Patricia Moubarak joined the team.
Expansion followed shortly after to more than 35 cities across eight European countries, as well as a recent launch in Australia.
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Mangrove Capital Partners was one of the leaders in the funding round. It is a leading early stage venture capital firm that claims to chase “bold, transformational ideas around the world”. It has a combined focus on Europe, Israel, India and Russia.
The firm has co-created projects and regularly injects funds prior to product launch, often in unproven, unusual or unfavoured technologies.
Mangrove co-founder Hans-Jürgen Schmitz praised nestpick for “solving a real pain point for consumers by creating a seamless rental experience entirely online”.
“At Mangrove we focus on disruptive concepts that solve real problems,” he continued. “Nestpick is achieving this by bringing reliability and convenience for both tenants and owners to the next level. We are excited to add nestpick to our portfolio and look forward to supporting them on their path to become a global market leader.”
Nestpick founder and CEO Fabian Dudek added that “in five years from now, people will be renting their homes entirely online”.
“This will bring fairness, transparency and joy into the broken real estate market. This investment will help us create a better experience for our landlords and tenants, taking us closer to our vision,” he said.
Further reading: European VC activity dips in 2015 Q3
