ApartX Founder and CEO Kanat Keldibekov (C)
Kazakhstan’s real estate market is unique.
In this Central Asian country, property owners don’t necessarily reside in the same cities where their properties are located. This is different from markets such as Singapore.
Two Kazakh entrepreneurs sensed a tremendous opportunity here and launched an online platform for property owners to share their properties via smart home solutions remotely.
“We have built a powerful platform that greatly simplifies the rental management process for landlords,” says Kanat Keldibekov, Founder and CEO of ApartX. “This also means tenants can directly rent the property without face-to-face interactions with property owners.”
Founded in 2020 by Keldibekov and Ivan Chalyk, ApartX is a B2B SaaS platform for landlords providing short-term rentals. ApartX automates up to 90 per cent of the operation process of 1,700 properties by using biometrics, smart locks, and digital sign technologies with integration into major rental platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com.
Also Read: Kazakh proptech startup ApartX raises seed funding for SEA expansion
Its features include managing property bookings, signing digital rent agreements, and remotely unlocking smart locks.
“We provide and install smart locks for our clients for free,” adds Keldibekov. “Our revenue comes from the rental payment for the locks + software access fee of US$20 per month or US$1 per booking.”
It does not charge the end consumers/tenants.
The startup now plans to expand locally and into Southeast Asia. To accelerate expansion, it announced a seed raise of US$250,000 from Kazakhstan-based Big Sky Capital and Activat VC early this week.
“We will use the capital to strengthen our R&D, attract experienced specialists and improve the platform’s functionality. We will also expand into new regions and increase our market share actively. A portion of the capital will go into strengthening our presence in Central Asia and establishing strategic partnerships with key players in the industry,” Keldibekov noted.
Before the latest round of funding, ApartX raised funding from Singapore-based Quest Ventures as part of the Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator programme, which was managed in conjunction with Qazakhstan Investment Corporation, the sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan.
ApartX was also recognised as the best IoT startup by Kazakhtelecom in 2018. In 2021, it was adjudged the best startup of the year at the International Technology Forum – Digital Bridge.
“We are determined to continue enhancing the rental process by increasing transparency and improving safety,” he concludes.
—
Fundraising or preparing your startup for fundraising? Build your investor network, search from 400+ SEA investors on e27, and get connected or get insights regarding fundraising. Try e27 Pro for free today.
The post ApartX allows landlords to share their properties via smart home solutions remotely appeared first on e27.