Proptech major Aurum PropTech is set to acquire Goldman Sachs, Tiger Global and Ratan Tata-backed managed rental home company NestAway Technologies through a complete buyout of all existing shareholders, said persons with direct knowledge of the development.
Apart from the founders, the company’s shareholders include global institutional investors and prominent business personalities such as the former Tata Sons chairman.
Founded in 2015, the online home rental marketplace counts Flipkart, Chiratae Ventures and a university fund also among its key investors. Over the years, NestAway has successfully raised $110 million to support its growth and expansion plans from its prominent investors.
Aurum PropTech is likely to be paying a total consideration of over $20 million for the proposed acquisition, which will be one of the first such buyout deals for a rental platform.
“The deal is at an advanced stage and most existing shareholders are already on board. It is likely to be inked anytime soon,” said one of the persons mentioned above.
The company’s last investment round was at a valuation of $230 million in 2019. However, the valuation has taken a hit post the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, the platform has over 39,600 tenants across 10 cities.
“Aurum PropTech is looking to ride the growth in India’s residential rental market like Brazil’s proptech unicorn QuintoAndar. NestAway was modelled and is operating on similar metrics as QuintoAndar, which makes it a strategic fit in the Aurum’s ecosystem,” said another person mentioned above.
Amarendra Sahu, co-founder and CEO of NestAway, declined comment. ET’s separate email queries to NestAway, Aurum PropTech, Tiger Global, Goldman Sachs, Flipkart, Chiratae Ventures and Ratan Tata remained unanswered until the time of going to press.
This will be Aurum PropTech’s eighth proptech-related acquisition in the last two years.
