Chinese apartment search startup 107room nabs angel investment from Michael Yu

Searching for apartments in Beijing is a nightmare. A few years ago when I last had to go through the process myself, the online tools available were severely outdated, and the listings were full of lies and fake photos. It definitely wasn’t a user-friendly experience.

Now, a Chinese startup called 107room wants to change that, and it has taken its first step on the road to success by netting an angel investment worth RMB 10 million (US$1.6 million) from the Hongtai Fund, a new investment fund from Sheng Xitai and New Oriental founder and CEO Michael Yu.

107room currently covers only Beijing, and it’s targeted at recent college grads and young professionals. The site and mobile app offer a much more user-friendly interface for browsing and filtering apartment listings than what you’ll find on classifieds sites like Ganji, and if you’re a landlord, submitting your apartment is a little easier too. Its mobile app promises “smart” recommendations so that renters spend less time sifting through junk listings.

The company also places a lot of importance on the accuracy of its listings. That means – at least in theory – no more finding a beautiful-looking apartment online and then visiting it in person only to discover it’s a dank cellar and all the photos were fake.

107room also aspires to make renter-landlord communication more direct, with a self-designed system that aims to weed out fake renters and agents so that potential renters can get in touch with landlords directly.

With this new investment, 107room is looking to strengthen its current offerings rather than branch out into additional cities. It faces some stiff competition; many other startups have realized that classified rental listings suck and are attempting to build slick mobile-first renting services. Similar startups like Hizufang and Woniuzufang have already raised angel rounds, too. But there may be something special about 107room, especially given that it was able to attract Michael Yu’s money so early.

(Source: Sina Tech)