Finding a place to live can be expensive and stressful, and these factors are only exacerbated when faced with the prospect being forced to share a living space with a complete stranger. Sure, living with another can help reduce the costs of renting a home, but what if you have no idea what this person’s habits and lifestyle are like?
That’s where Wonego comes in, “the Match.com of Flatsharing”, to take the hassle out of finding the flatmate to share your new flat with. Wonego’s platform uses personality and lifestyle profiling and compatibility matching, similar to that of a dating site, to offer those looking for a place to live a faster and easier way to find potential flatmates, and gives landlords the opportunity to find the right tenants and earn some additional income.
Founded by Stuart Atkinson and Stephan Gasteyger in the first cohort of the London Founder Institute in 2015, Wonego only launched their beta in May of this year, but already has about 1,500 users. The company’s primary demographic is working London professionals aged 21 to 35, but are quickly growing in the London rental market, with plans to expand to the U.S. next year, San Francisco and New York City as the primary targets (two major cities that can surely benefit from a service like this one).
And while the company is staying local to London at the moment, their recent traction and success proves they have what it takes to reach other markets, as well. In addition to a growing number of users, Wonego was just recently voted one of the Top 75 European startups in Startup Grind Europe.
Of course, much of the growth of the company is attributed to the strength of its founders, who started this company with years of related experience and expertise: Stuart qualified as a Chartered Accountant with a Big 5 firm in Audit and Corporate Finance before moving into Investment Banking where he led global business and technology teams building trading systems and integrating Banking businesses following M&A deals, and has 10 years of experience investing in real estate; and Stephan holds a Master's degree in Economics and spent 12 years in Investment Banking as a sell-side analyst, while simultaneously investing in real estate since 2006, ultimately dedicating his career to the field full time in 2014.
With millennials flocking to major cities for lucrative tech jobs, the global rental market has grown rapidly in recent years, with an average $120 billion in commissions made annually worldwide. Stuart and Stephan are smart to start in the UK, as London currently has a $50 million houseshare rental market, along with a $5 billion UK rental market overall.
