Cityfurnish—an online platform for renting furniture, furnishings and appliances—has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Citrus Pay co-founder Jitendra Gupta.
The startup will use the money to build its core team and enhance its technology back-end, Neerav Jain, founder of Cityfurnish, told Techcircle.in.
“His (Jitendra's) insights and experience are valuable to us as new generation entrepreneurs. At Cityfurnish, we are changing the perception of the user towards renting or shared economy,†said Jain.
Cityfurnish was founded by Jain in August this year.
Jain is an alumnus of Delhi University and Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Before starting Cityfurnish, Jain interned with Pepperfry besides working at his family firm, Chandra Shekhar Exports.
Cityfurnish, run by Gurgaon-based Magneto Home Pvt Ltd, provides furniture, furnishings and appliances on rent. The company works with third-party providers through a marketplace model besides keeping inventory on its books.
“Cityfurnish is an interesting business model wherein it provides affordability to consumers to rent furniture rather than making a single payment for a large purchase. This model provides affordability and flexibility to replace furniture when they (users) are bored of it,†said Gupta.
Cityfurnish is operating in Delhi-NCR. It claims to have furnished about 75 properties in the region. The startup will launch its operations in Bangalore by December-end.
The company is also in talks to raise new funding of close to $2 million, according to Jain.
Startups that allow users to rent goods and accessories have been generating tremendous investor interest.
Recently, Bangalore-based Edunetwork Pvt Ltd, the company behind home appliances and furniture rental marketplace Rentomojo, had raised $2 million in pre-Series A funding from Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India.
In March, Bangalore-based Kieraya Furnishing Solutions Pvt Ltd, which operates Furlenco, an online venture for renting furniture for residential use, had raised $6 million (Rs 38 crore) in a Series A round of funding from LightBox Ventures.
RentOnGo, an online marketplace for renting bikes, electronics and appliances, had secured an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Snapdeal’s chief product officer Anand Chandrasekaran, GSF India founder Rajesh Sawhney and other angel investors