The past few months may well have been one of the most subdued periods for investment in purpose-built student accommodation in recent years, but lower transaction figures are reflective of the economic environment, not a lack of demand from students needing somewhere to call home.
For Hannah Chappatte, not long ago a student in need of somewhere to call home herself, there is a huge opportunity in students and young renters, and she is intent on building a business that enables students and landlords alike to thrive.
Fixing the process
Chappatte, a liberal arts graduate of the University of Bristol, started Hybr when she was just 22 after becoming frustrated with renting as a student. The rental platform is how she wants to fix the process, providing a unique place for students and young renters to compare all their housing options, from PBSA and HMOs to BTR and co-living. It provides all those options in one place that not only serves as a rental platform but offers education and advice, a community to engage with, and a handy place to digitally store all those important documents that perhaps as students we are not the best at taking care of.
Since launching the business in 2020, the platform has expanded to having 27,000 rooms listed on it, and it is growing at a whopping 30% month-on-month.
And that growth has Chappatte hungry for more.
Last year she raised around £700,000 in pre-seed capital from a group of angel investors and is now close to closing a second £1.5m funding round. The round has been oversubscribed, says Chappatte, with backing from a wide range of past and new investors, including BlackWood Ventures, Lakestar Ventures, the Atomico Angel Programme and Adjuvo, plus private individuals such as The Office Group’s Charlie Green and Olly Olsen, World Wide Web Foundation co-founder (and wife of Tim Berners-Lee) Rosemary Leith, AllBright co-founder Debbie Wosskow and former Bupa chief executive Evelyn Bourke, among others.
Platform of choice
It is quite the list of investors and Chappatte says she worked hard getting them on board – multiple pitches a day for months on end – but they clearly see the opportunity for Hybr to become the way young renters source their accommodation.
“I’m not here to be a foe of agents,” says Chappatte, predicting where the conversation is about to go. “We want to work with everyone to create value and open up the rental market to young renters.”
Hybr, says Chappatte is just as valuable to landlords and agents as it is to renters. For landlords, they can list their properties free of charge and only pay Hybr a fee (typically 3% of annual rent) once a renter is placed in the property. And, she adds, through the unique algorithm the platform uses, its matchmaker ensures a tenant is the right tenant for the landlord, and the space is the right space for the tenant.
“Through these tailored matches, we can build trusted relationships with students and give landlords back their time,” says Chappatte.
Expansion drive
With more than £1.5m of new funding in the platform – from new and existing backers – and revenues reaching close to £3m, Hybr is now ready for its next phase of growth. Near-term ambitions are to grow from the six cities it currently operates in – London, Bristol, Liverpool, Lincoln, Sheffield and Lancaster – to 10 by October next year, and then to 20. The ultimate aim is to be a solution for 32 UK university cities, says Chappatte.
For the real estate community, Hybr might just offer a solution that provides the next generation of potential built environment workers with an altogether more positive first experience of dealing with property than past generations have had.
And that is certainly what Chappatte wants. To take the anxiety out of property rental and show young renters that there is a home for them out there.
To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@eg.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @EGPropertyNews
