Rumah Diaspora aims to be the Airbnb for Indonesians overseas

It’s no secret that the education system in Indonesia is not on par with the rest of the world. Hence, as Indonesia’s middle class continues to grow, more people are going abroad to earn their college degrees. Often, Indonesians in their 20s will look toward higher education options in the US, Australia, or Europe. This phenomenon presents many interesting business opportunities. According to tech startup Rumah Diaspora, one of the big opportunities is housing rentals for Indonesians.

Rumah Diaspora is an app that connects Indonesians looking to rent out rooms abroad with other Indonesians who are traveling overseas.

CEO Irzan Raditya says he knows the feeling of being confused in a foreign country, as he too faced issues when finding a place to hang his hat while attending university in Berlin, Germany. After learning that other Indonesian students faced the same difficulty, Raditya decided this was a problem worth solving. He noticed that Indonesian students abroad preferred living with their compatriots. After more research, Raditya got to work building the app, which is currently in beta.

Focusing on a small market

As a brand new startup, Rumah Diaspora has only penetrated the German market so far, which alone does not represent an enormous opportunity. But with a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race mindset, Raditya tells Tech in Asia that the firm will soon collaborate with the Indonesian Students Association (PPI) in order to spread the word about the app. The idea is for students preparing to study abroad to know how the app can help them before their departure. The team also plans to reach out to other countries that are popular destinations for Indonesian students to study.

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Rumah Diaspora says around 100,000 Indonesians are currently studying abroad. The Indonesia International Institute for Life Sciences in Jakarta published a report last year that said around 30,000 local students travel abroad annually. This is about 0.8 percent of total tertiary-level students in Indonesia. The startup claims the Indonesian diaspora is made up of 5.3 million people, and there are 12.8 million outbound travelers per year, which is another market it’s looking to tap.

Longer-term rentals

Rumah Diaspora monetizes by collecting a commission on each room booking. The startup’s transaction cut depends on the amount of time renters wish to stay with the host, and the rate decreases with longer durations. For example, if someone only wants to stay for one day, Rumah Diaspora takes a whopping 10 percent commission. For a longer stay, like eight days, the startup charges a lower fee of around 5 percent each day.

For students who are seeking longer rentals, Raditya says Rumah Diaspora will charge about EUR5 (US$5.45) per day to homeowners that host tenants for a minimum of 30 days.

The team admits that Rumah Diaspora is still only a part-time project. Raditya is also head of mobile at the Germany-based food delivery site Lieferando (acquired by Takeaway). Apart from Raditya, the Rumah Diaspora development team also includes Gilang Agustian as CTO. Luky Primadani is head of marketing, and is also on the marketing team for Rocket Internet’s car classifieds site Carmudi.