Hostel and co-living booking platform Paying Guest Online (PGO) said on Thursday it has raised $2 million (Rs 14.13 crore) from two new real estate executives.
Sreeni Musani of Ektha.com Pvt. Ltd and Narsi Reddy of IRA Reality Tech Pvt. Ltd are the new investors in the company, PGO said in a statement.
The new investors have already sanctioned $1 million and will provide the remaining amount later, PGO spokesperson said.
Hari Krishna, chief executive officer at PGO, said the company will use the fresh funds to expand its footprint in new cities, upgrade its technology and consolidate its service offerings.
Musani and Reddy said PGO helps to address difficulties of finding acceptable, verified, co-living, hostel and PGs for millennial.
PGO, which is operated by Thinkwide Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, was founded in July 2018. The company says its app helps provide dependable, verified online co-living, hostel, PG bookings, and payment services effectively.
Since its launch, PGO said it has added 13,072 properties and has recorded 205,782 total stay days. The PGO app, which is available on Google Play Store and Apple Store, has recorded over 100,000 downloads.
The firm said it earlier raised funding from angel investors Sai Korrapati, SS Karthikeya, Sanjay Reddy and Anil Kumar.
The broader co-living as an asset class has gained a lot of currency in India lately. A slew of startups have ventured into the segment, attracting capital from global and domestic investors. A bunch of real estate investors have also set up co-living and co-working firms or backed firms that are into shared living or co-working.
In the biggest transaction in the co-living segment, private equity firm Warburg Pincus set up a joint venture with Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd last December to invest as much as Rs 3,000 crore ($426 million) to develop full-service accommodation for students and young working professionals.