NestAway Technologies is a Bengaluru-based Indian home-rental marketplace that turns unfurnished houses into furnished, managed homes for pre-verified tenants; it was acquired by Aurum PropTech in 2023.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what NestAway does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

NestAway in Brief

• What it is: NestAway is an Indian Rental housing / managed rentals company based in Bengaluru.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Online home-rental marketplace
• Converts unfurnished houses into furnished, managed apartments rented to pre-verified tenants
• Handles listing, marketing, tenant acquisition and maintenance
• Funding: About $110 million (one tracker: $109.3 million over 12 rounds).

NestAway Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is NestAway?

NestAway operates in the Rental housing / managed rentals space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to NestAway.

• Online home-rental marketplace
• Converts unfurnished houses into furnished, managed apartments rented to pre-verified tenants
• Handles listing, marketing, tenant acquisition and maintenance
• Listed about 18,000 properties at the time of the 2023 deal

The Origin Story of NestAway

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar, Jitendra Jagadev.
• Founded in January 2015 by four NIT Surathkal alumni: Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar and Jitendra Jagadev
• Idea came from struggling to find rental housing in Bengaluru
• Sources differ on the current CEO; Jitendra Jagadev was named CEO after the Aurum deal

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Rental housing / managed rentals sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• Jan 2015: founded
• Jul 2015: $12 million round led by Flipkart and Tiger Global, after $1.3 million from IDG Ventures India and Naveen Tewari
• Apr 2016: $30 million from Tiger Global, Apoletto Asia, Sujeet Kumar and IDG Ventures
• 2017-2018: about $51 million including Goldman Sachs and UC-RNT, valuing it at $180-200 million post-money
• 2019: valued at $220 million; invested $10 million in co-living vertical HelloWorld
• Jun 2023: Aurum PropTech board approved acquiring up to 100% for up to Rs 90 crore with Rs 30 crore to be infused

NestAway Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• Mar 2015: $1.3 million, IDG Ventures India and Naveen Tewari
• Jul 2015: $12 million, Flipkart and Tiger Global
• Apr 2016: $30 million, Tiger Global, Apoletto Asia, Sujeet Kumar, IDG Ventures
• 2017-2018: about $51 million, Goldman Sachs ($19 million), UC-RNT ($16 million), Tiger Global, IDG

How Does NestAway Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Managed rental model earning recurring revenue instead of one-time brokerage
• Pays brokers an annuity of 2.5% of monthly rent per managed home (2016 report)
• Furnishes and manages homes for urban renters

The Numbers: NestAway Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY21: revenue Rs 90.7 crore, loss Rs 65.8 crore
• FY22: revenue Rs 57.87 crore, loss Rs 94.97 crore
• FY23: revenue Rs 45.1 crore
• FY24: revenue Rs 32.8 crore (down 27.4%), net loss Rs 19.0 crore
• FY25: revenue Rs 41.5 crore (up 26%), loss after tax Rs 11.7 crore

Market Opportunity for NestAway

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Operates in India's managed rental and co-living space
• CEO has said the real competition is the unstructured broker market

Technology and Product at NestAway

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Online marketplace for listing, tenant verification and property management

Team and Culture at NestAway

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Jitendra Jagadev CEO and Ismail Khan COO named post-acquisition

NestAway Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for NestAway

• Distressed sale at about 95% below peak valuation
• Revenue fell from FY21 through FY24
• Continuing losses
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

NestAway Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Under Aurum PropTech; FY25 revenue and loss both improved
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether NestAway can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where NestAway Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for NestAway

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for NestAway.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from NestAway

Studying a company in the Rental housing / managed rentals space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about NestAway.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate NestAway as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can NestAway name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

NestAway is part of India’s growing Rental housing / managed rentals ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

NestAway FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is NestAway?

NestAway Technologies is a Bengaluru-based Indian home-rental marketplace that turns unfurnished houses into furnished, managed homes for pre-verified tenants; it was acquired by Aurum PropTech in 2023. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded NestAway?

NestAway was founded by Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar, Jitendra Jagadev, and the company reports a founding year of 2015.

How much funding has NestAway raised?

About $110 million (one tracker: $109.3 million over 12 rounds). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does NestAway make money?

NestAway earns revenue from its Rental housing / managed rentals products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of NestAway?

Reported rivals include Stanza Living, Colive, OYO, NoBroker. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for NestAway?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.