Going far beyond its expected growth, Zenify.in, an online home rental aggregator & management startup, has achieved over 1000 property listings under its category Zenify Homes. The glorious milestone has been achieved in just 4 months since the launch of this service, enabling the company to play a key role in standardizing the rental residential property market in Bengaluru.

Launched in February this year, Zenify Homes was introduced as a viable service to enable better management of residential buildings as well as ensuring maximum retention of tenants. It specifically caters its services to building owners/managers who may be encountering some difficulties in managing the premises or dealing with the residents.

Commenting on this accomplishment, Sudarshan Purohit, CEO & Co-founder, Zenify.in said

We are extremely delighted to have achieved this milestone in such short span of time. With our management services gaining prominence in individual rental properties, we knew it was time to introduce a new category which can exclusively assist residential building owners to supervise their property effectively. We are happy to know that more and more building supervisors are now utilizing our services to improve the overall management of their property, and we hope to maintain this growth in the near future as well.

Elaborating further on this achievement, Shantakumar S. Harlapur, Manager – Sales, Zenify.in said

This milestone is very crucial for Zenify.in as it has helped us gain strong foothold in real estate market. With ‘Zenify Homes’, the company has been able to tap into a segment within this industry which was previously ignored. Poor management, maintenance, and/or lack of secondary services are just some of the reasons why most residential building lose potential tenants. However, with our comprehensive management services, most building owners have now been able to turn their properties into one of the most sought after among renters.

Under this category, Zenify.in takes full responsibility of managing a property. Some of its services include – Waste management, 24/7 security, Housekeeping, Bill payments, and other maintenance services as and when required.

About Zenify

Zenify is India’s only complete Home Aggregator and Rental Management Startup. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the technology driven startup, has simplified home rentals with technology. Through Zenify’s unique ZRP [Zenify Rental Price], Zenify brings in standardisation for home rentals. ZRP is a fixed rental price for each property that is available for rent, the price is fixed based on its localities and demands. For more information, please visit Zenify

Students graduating in 2016 and considering beginning their professional life in Bengaluru can now rejoice, as Zenify [earlier coverage here], an online home rental aggregator & management startup, announces a complete package for those hoping to set up their new place via its platform. Zenify has tied up with various outlets like rental furniture, spas, eateries, salons, etc., in Bengaluru with special discounts to assist first-time job seekers in the city and help them adjust to their new surroundings. It will also reduce their expenses and offer them a complete hassle free stay.

Zenify will provide end to end solutions to students right from finding an apartment to setting it up and moving in. Individuals can rent 1/2/3 BHK apartments across Bengaluru with zero brokerage and a lower security deposit compared to current market standards. Additionally, with Zenify’s tie-up with various supermarkets and furniture companies, they will be able to avail discounts and offers on rental furniture, groceries, fine dining restaurants & pubs, local spas and salons, etc.

Bengaluru is the fifth most populous city in India with an estimated demography of 8.5 million individuals reported in 2011. Known as the Silicon Valley of India, it has witnessed constant influx of professionals ever since its IT boom in 1990’s and thrives on its job market for young professionals. Therefore, increase in number of job seekers has given rise to an ever increasing demand for rental housing service providers.

Since most newcomers here are fresh graduates, they are usually cash crunched and have a tough time in figuring out their basic needs especially when they have to stay in another city. It is this challenge that prompted Zenify to specifically cater their latest home rental package for job aspirants, who are seeking a home in an unfamiliar city.

Commenting on this, Sudarshan Purohit, Co-Founder & CEO, Zenify said

When I initially moved to Bangalore, the most difficult aspect was to figure out where, what, and whom to approach for any kind of assistance. There were no such platforms or services available back then and surviving in this city could sometimes become very challenging for newcomers. Therefore, ensued by my personal experience,we decided to launch our latest rental package for first-time job seekers. Our vision has remained constant since the inception of Zenify-to offer end to end home rental solutions. It has become even more relevant now with such add-on perks offered on our platform.

Zenify, recently raised Rs 6 crores in Pre-Series A from High Networth Individuals [HNI], who have a minor stake in this company. Their target is to have 6000 properties listed by March 2017. The company foresees scaling its business across the major cities of the country in less than two years and becoming a prominent player in the rental segment.

Sudarshan Purohit, Kailash Rathi and Ankur Agarwal, alumni of IIT- Madras co-founded Zenify, which lists over 2000 properties available for rent across Bengaluru. The platform provides owners and tenants a hassle free system to find and rent an apartment. The company aims to standardise the market rental pricing by predicting the market value of each property listed on their portal.

About Zenify

Zenify is India’s only complete Home Aggregator and Rental Management Startup. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the technology driven startup, has simplified home rentals with technology. Through Zenify’s unique ZRP [Zenify Rental Price], Zenify brings in standardisation for home rentals. ZRP is a fixed rental price for each property that is available for rent, the price is fixed based on its localities and demands. For more information, please visit Zenify

As migrants to the city, we  face lot of issues while trying to find a place on rent. In fact, when I landed in Bangalore (in 2004), there were language barriers that I regularly faced when boarding bus, speaking to local people (though now things are far-better and Bengaluru is truly a cosmopolitan city) to name a few.

Similar issues were faced by Sudarshan PurohitAnkur Agarwal and Kailash Rathi when they were trying to find a place on rent. This motivated them to startup Zenify, complete rental solution for tenants and owners

Today, we have a chat with Sudarshan Purohit, Co-founder & CEO of the startup where we dig deep into their entrepreneurial journey, Zenify, views on startup ecosystem etc.

Can you give a small background about you, your start-up and it’s founders ?

While there are enough and more property listing portals, Zenify is India’s only complete rental solution for tenants and owners. A Bangalore-based technology start-up, Zenify has simplified rentals to such an extent that tenant’s just needs to book the home of their choice online and move in, with Zenify handling the rest.

For owners again, Zenify is the only player to promise end-to-end property management. A quick look at Zenify will show how analytics and design can come together to create a fair, hassle-free experience in what used to be a chaotic business.

Prior to starting up Zenify:

Sudarshan Purohit [Co- founder & CEO of Zenify]

  • Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras
  • Prior to starting up, Sudarshan was working with Insilica Semiconductors as a Design Engineers on the project ‘Digital picture Frame’

Ankur Agarwal [Co Founder & Head of data analytics at Zenify]

  • Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras
  • Was working as a Business Analyst with Global Analytics in Chennai. He worked on SEO project and analytical model on credit worthiness for short term loans

Kailash Rathi [Co Founder & Director- Finance & Strategy at Zenify]

  • Aerospace Engineering from IIT Madras
  • Worked as a Strategic marketing Analyst [Go-to-Market strategy, studied the trends for marketing NetApp products] with Net-App in Chennai.

Every idea is born out of a problem, what was the trigger for starting Zenify ?

As migrants to the city, we  faced a multitude of issues while trying to find a place on rent. The language barrier and an unpleasant broker experience motivated use to come up with a solution to address the problems that migrants face in a new city. Having had a history of family business back in our home-towns, we had a strong urge to start our own business.

We had ideas, we were willing to take risks and had an undying entrepreneurial spirit. After a thorough market research,  Zenify was started in the year 2012 with an aim to help young migrants adjust easily in the city.  Our intention was to create a niche model for house rentals which is beneficial for both tenants and owners.

What are the core differentiating factors of Zenify from other real-estate startups ?

There are fewer players in the market who have tried to solve the property discovery problem, apartment finding problem, finding a Shared apartment, but nobody provides an end to end comprehensive rental solutions for the owner and the tenants which is only done by Zenify.

Zenify solves five basic problems in the realty industry which have been the biggest hassles so far for the owners and the tenants. Zenify stepped into the problem and simplifies the entire process of online residential property management.

Zenify helps to do away with the property visit for the owners and the tenants. Tenants can view the property online without making a property visit and book their property with a market rent.

  1. Zenify does the tenants screening and reports will be shared with the owner before allowing the tenants to occupy the property.
  2. Zenify drafts a standard rental agreement between owner and tenants.
  3. Zenify manages the end to end property management-From repair, painting etc.
  4. Zenify collects the monthly rent and hands it over to the owner.

What is the TAM of the ‘Renting/Leasing commercial property’ ?

Current market size is about $15 Billion based on 2011 statistics and increasing 15% YOY in India from urban cities. We expected to grow 35 % on quarter.

What is your revenue model of Zenify ?

Once an owner registers with Zenify, we review the property and if it is suitable Zenify becomes the tenants and are given the sublet rights. For a property owner, Zenify becomes the tenant and to a new tenant Zenify becomes the owner.

Zenify charges a month’s rent for every year as a service fee from the owners. For tenants, it’s completely free without any brokerage. If the tenant discontinues the agreement, Zenify continues to pay the rent to the owner even when the flat is vacant. A tenant registered on Zenify gets a broker free experience with standardized pricing and agreement terms.

Which are the cities where Zenify is currently operational ?

We are exclusively present in Banglore alone and managing 1800 properties. We are planning to extend our services to India’s top nine cities in near future.

One of the major concerns about Buying/Renting is that property is not as shown in the listing website. How does Zenify fix this problem ?

The owners whoever wants to rent out their property can share their property details to Zenify and one of our employees does the physical verification on the property, collecting property photos and will be uploaded in our website with all the property specifications along with fixed rent.

The tenant can view the property details on our website which provides the tenant 360 degree view of the property.If the tenant were to find his desired home from the list, the tenant can book the property by paying a token in advance and then, he can directly move to the property on his desired day

Can your throw some light on funding, whether Zenify is bootstrapped or seed-funded or angel-funded ?

We have received angel funding from Manthan Systems, Gana Yantrika Systems and K12 Techno service. Atul Jalan is the CEO and Founder of Manthan systems, Anant Pandit director of Gana Yantrika Systems Pvt Ltd, which is a privately held company which invests in companies with unique business models and use technology to advance market access and MSC Srikanth & M Bharath are the directors of K12 Technology Hyderabad.

We have set a few ambitious goals for our organization for which we will require more funds. We are currently in talks with a few investors who can bring in financial support as well as technology expertise to the table.

Does Zenify plan to provide End-To-End services (right from Estimating Valuation, Listing Property, Getting Buyers, Getting Legal Work done etc.) since that would be a great USP for Zenify ?

The below listed are our core USP and we are focusing this.

  • Fair price to owners and tenants
  • Tenant verification
  • End to end paperwork management
  • Assured occupancy
  • A to Z flat maintenance and repairs
  • Regular inspection
  • A dedicated team of maintenance personnel
  • Assured rent for the owners

What are the major changes that you experienced when you became an entrepreneur?

However, we had zeal to be unorthodox from the existing systems and to be visionary in order to be a change maker in the society; we also had faced the trepidations during our venture. Because being just 22 old ,the society demanded a regular job to have a proper sustainable life than going for a risk which could be a paradox. Nevertheless, we decided to quit the job and started our venture. Initial days, the market did not accept our concept since it was very much unique and gradually people were able to adopt the concept and began to endorse the concept as well.

First, I had to adopt a strong mind set since Entrepreneurship  is not going to be a cake walk rather lot of bucks will stop at me, therefore I had to prepare mentally to encounter the challenges whatever is going to hit me.

I did not have a normal office hours 9 AM – 6 PM, instead the entire day was my office hours. The startup became our life. The startup taught me about leadership How to run the entire show being a leader, moreover the situations created a thirst in me to read and understand the concept of leadership in depth which led me to read many books on leadership.

In brief startup made me to master in every aspect of business.

What are your key advice(s) to people who want to start-up ?

Those who want to start  their own venture, they must do a proper market research whether the idea can bring a change in the market or will it be a scalable business idea. If they receive the positive result, they can confidently launch their venture. The focus should be on customer satisfaction and always try to learn from customer experience which will teach us where are we after its launch. The customers are the best advisers for any business.

After a certain period of time, the founders should look for funding at the early stages itself. Another difficult task to identify the right investors who would really understand your business model and willing to stay with you in any circumstances of the company, which will give more confidence to run the business in a better way.

Can you give some pointers on Scaling Up & Customer Acquisition [some take-away for entrepreneurs]

Primarily, you need to understand the biggest problem in the market and analyze whether it is possible to tap through technology? Secondly, one needs to understand the customer’s problem. Thirdly, you need to communicate the solutions that you have for the customer’s problems. If  this has been set ,then the customer acquisitions will be possible through various social media platforms, PR & marketing campaigns.

Bootstrapping or external Funding, what are your views on the same ?

Once the product or services has been  launched, entrepreneurs should look for seed funding which will provide them an adequate knowledge about the market behavior and will give enough space to create a better investment strategy. Such initiative also will give them how their product behaves in the market and helps to understand the demand of the market as well. Every initial launch will be a trial and error method, during the course of the journey everybody understands the real need of the market and spin their ideas.

Your views on the current start-up eco-system & valuation bubble in India ?

There are startups that have a substantial growth in the market and could capture a good  amount of the market share. They could achieve this far because they had a strong vision and better strategy.

Partially, the industry has faced a few setbacks because of few of the better performed startups happened to get shut down, because of the unforced errors of burning the investments quickly. The investments should have been handled better.

Funding for early stage & growth stage startups has dried up in 2016, what are your tips for entrepreneurs who are pitching in this tough period ?

In fact, the funds are flowing, but slightly in a slow pace because of the unexpected shut-downs of a few  good startups which forced the investor to take back seat in terms of investments.

Entrepreneur needs to create a scalable business model and present a realistic business forecasting which will indeed attract the investors and create the confidence so that they can invest in the product.

Some hiring tips for entrepreneurs [especially the core team] ?

Few basic elements need to be taken into account while hiring a core a team in any organizations .

  • Expertise
  • Attitude
  • Chemistry between Employee and Employer
  • Confident level
  • Team player

These are the core elements we need to keep in the consideration while hiring the core team in the startup.

Hope you liked the Q&A and there were many take-aways from it for aspiring entrepreneurs!! If you have any questions for the Zenify team, please leave them in the comments section.