Renthome.ru, an online resource for independent travelers offering short-term vacation rentals across Russia and the CIS, has received approximately $1 million in angel investment. Participants in this round of investment include Russian and international entrepreneurs, as well as investors from the real estate market and finance sector.
The new investment round will provide Renthome.ru additional value as new investors are putting money in the company as well as helping to develop the business. Offering global expertise in the real estate market and connections in the finance sector, Renthome.ru aims to build a network of partners and service providers to support the company’s growth.
Most funds will go to regional network development and marketing. Apart from Moscow, Renthome.ru will expand into 10 more Russian cities and 1 city in Ukraine. At least one regional representative of Renthome.ru will be stationed in each operating city.
In the last 8 months Renthome has managed to compile the largest database of real estate listings of all other Russian online services. Renthome.ru has nearly 17,000 active properties located in over 700 Russian, CIS and European cities and towns.
Renthome.ru aims to have as many as 25,000 properties on offer by the end of the year. At present, every property receives at least one booking request per month from visitors. Through its website, the company aims to raise booking request from 1 per month to the international vacations standard of 3-5 monthly booking requests. The company plans to expand its overall marketing budget by focusing on social media and social networks to reach its bookings goal. Oleg Midar, Marketing Director of Renthome.ru, explains the digital strategy: “The website visitors will become our brand ambassadors and auditors at the same time.
If the photos or descriptions placed on the website do not correspond with the reality, the users will be compelled to write a review highlighting the properties’ inconsistencies.” Dwight Linden, Renthome.ru CEO anticipates that the regional expansion and new marketing strategy will increase traffic growth from 17,000 to over 25,000 unique daily visitors.
Experts forecast that market volumes for Russian short-term property rentals will double each year in the future.