Remember that time in your twenties when you got a new job or joined a university and had to move to a new city? Good times, good times. And then, you had to find a place to stay live? Ah, that’s when the fun really began.
You probably:
1. Posted on Facebook groups (and got a broker’s number).
2. Searched on Google for websites that list to-let spaces (and got a broker’s number).
3. Called the brokers yourself (using aforementioned numbers).
Dealing with brokers is painful: we’ve all been there. And that’s where Homigo steps in. It’s a flat rental solution that provides fully furnished apartments for single, working professionals. Homigo rents out spaces, furnishes them with appliances and furniture and even sets up the Internet.
Say what?
But while they were busy disrupting the housing space, along came some prickly operational issues. CTO Aakash Verma speaks to us about how important it was to find the right payment partner and what they were looking for.
How were you collecting payments prior to Instamojo?
“We handled payments through NEFT/IMPS.”
But, it had its limitations:
- New customers paying through bank deposits had to add Homigo as a beneficiary on their accounts, then wait between 3 and 24 hours to pay the rent.
- Human error could cause cases of incorrect transfers – in the amount or account number, bounced cheques, cheque signature errors and more.
- Managing amount transfer confirmation receipts, cash-handling and maintaining a record of successful payments was time- and resource-consuming.
And anyone who has ever tried collecting payments in time from more than one person, can imagine the pain of collecting it from thousands of tenants. NEFT/IMPS proved to be not feasible and not scalable.
What was your checklist for a payment partner?
We were in urgent need of a solution that would quickly enable online payments for us. We wanted payment confirmations to not be a resource-crunch. Since renting is a monthly affair and people need to be reminded to pay their rent, we wanted a solution like Request a Payment, that Instamojo offers. In fact, Instamojo ticked all of the above boxes for us.
We’re glad! What did you like most about Instamojo?
The best part was we didn’t have to dedicate human resources to handling payment collection. And their features have made life very easy and comfortable for us.
Aakash and Homigo, thanks for chatting with us. Can’t wait to see where you go with your hugely innovative product. Best of luck!
And it’s not just Homigo that we cater to in the start-up world. If you’re looking for a fast, reliable and easy payment solution, come to Instamojo.
