This Two-sided Home Rental Marketplace is Saving Tenants Millions in Rental Deposits

Company Overview

Brief: Rentberry is here to bring the rental process into the 21st century. The Rentberry platform isa two-sided marketplace that connects landlords and renters. Through an auction process, landlords can secure good rental prices and collect rent payments virtually. On the tenant side, users can take virtual tours of prospective locations and eSign all necessary documents. Rentberry works on a freemium revenue model with revenues from enterprise clients, sale of insurance products, and other platforms under the Rentberry umbrella.

Key People: Founder and CEO Oleksiy Lubinsky (repeat founder, former investment banking executive), Head of Design Alex Kot (also founder and CEO of startup Floorly), CMO Oleksii (Alex) Humeniuk (SEO specialist).

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Terms

Security Type: Equity - Common

Valuation: $25,000,000

Amount Raised: $11,576,858

Minimum Investment: $300

Takeaway

Here's what I like: This is SUCH an obvious problem. Renting (anything) is such a pain in the ass that I don’t even want to get into it -- you already know. While I think the founding team is fantastic and has all the core competencies needed to win… it’s the solution and traction that had me at hello!

For starters, Rentberry has processed nearly 20 million rental properties, with more than 700,000 users 👀. What's more, the product is fully automated.

For once, both the tenant and landlord can win.

This reminds me of a Chicago startup called Rentgrata that has been absolutely crushing since 2018 by enabling renters to earn rent credits by referring new tenants.

The rental experience is so bad. Rentberry (like Rentgrata) makes it immediately and infinitely better just by being in existence!

Here's what I don't love: Real Estate Tech (or PropTech) is a deceptive space. Even after major disruptors like Opendoor, Redfin and Second Avenue entered the space, it’s still largely dominated by the same massive financial institutions. And while the addressable market is huge -- where even niche companies can make billions -- if you peel back the cap table layers, you’ll begin to see the same familiar faces!

With all that said, my primary concern is that if the team is not well-networked with the powers that be, I’m not sure that being a first-mover in the space offers much of a moat. Especially since competitors like Zillow, Trulia (a Zillow subsidiary),Move, Auction.com, and CoStar are all already providing similar services.

Who should invest and why: The real estate/rental space is a great entry point for new investors because most everyone has at least some experience either buying or renting properties. And a $300 minimum investment makes this even more accessible.

Rentberry is raising funds at a pre-money valuation of $25M, up from $9M just a year ago. Presumably, this increase reflects significant platform growth. However, from a revenue perspective, the multiple is still pretty insane at nearly 800x!

The company has raised $13M to date (burning about $1.3M last year) with $2.3M remaining. So, my decision (at this price) would be based mostly on whether or not the team can continue funding growth long enough to fully realize its potential.

As always, startup investing is super high-risk, and anything can happen. Don't invest anything you can't afford to lose.

Invest in Rentberry here 👉 Term Sheet

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