It’s no secret the rental market is a mess, but Brisbane’s startup Rent a rabbit it’s already refurbishing. And with their EOI campaign, you can go in and clean up on the ground floor as well.
Founded by brothers James and Ben Pretty, this proptech startup has been called “a sort of TripAdvisor for renters,” and that’s the impact they’ve had on Australia’s frustrated rental market.
Rent Rabbit allows renters to leave anonymous reviews of their rental experience – the good, the bad, and downright dodgy. Co-tenants can then pay to access these reviews before committing to renting.
It’s like moving to a place where your faithful partner has lived before… or not, depending on how well they think the landlord has treated them.
Power to the tenant
This ability to share reviews about rental properties gives tenants some power back. Before Rent Rabbit launched last year, tenants only had the hyped list and a five-minute inspection to help them decide if they wanted to sign a lease. Considering the average rental contract is worth about $26k, it’s easy to see why a platform that brings information and, crucially, transparency into the rental process has found a market so quickly.
More than 20,000 tenants are already using the service, which has listed more than two million homes to date. The honest reviews that users submit are essential to Rent Rabbit’s value and the company uses fraud detection and verification software to ensure that only verified reviews are published.
Power to the investor
With such clearly attractive backing, this crowdfunded platform is an exciting investment opportunity. No wonder Rent rabbits current EOI campaign on the Birchal platform received about 200 expressions of interest in 24 hours – and more.
Not only is Rent Rabbit solving a clear market problem, there is also a solid business plan behind the idea. The innovative platform monetizes in four main ways:
- Only real estate reviews are free. There is a flat fee to see the full review, part of which is shared with the original reviewer.
- A monthly subscription model to unlock premium features such as TenantVault (where users can store their rental data) and Suburb Insights.
- Website ad revenue.
- Affiliation and referral income from brokers and owners.
Image: Rent a rabbit
As a result, Rent Rabbit grows like, well, rabbits. They have recently launched tenant subscription products and are aiming to expand their offering of ‘leases’ partnerships.
Rent Rabbit’s ambition is supported by their growing media presence, with 1.4 million views on social media in 30 days.
The size of the Total Addressable Market (TAM) is represented by the 2.97 million Australian rental households and eight million Australian tenants and Rent Rabbit estimates that their nascent market will reach $400 million by 2026.
Register your interest
Rent Rabbit is now seeking expressions of interest from investors. If you want to own a part of the company, the media calls a “game changer“, hop over. You can register your interest on Birchal .’s EOI page and look at them webinar this Thursday, Aug. 18 at 12:30 p.m. EST (which will be available to watch when catching up).
Always consider the general CSF risk warning and offer document before investing.
This article is brought to you by Startup Daily in association with Rent Rabbit.
Feature image: Included.