Hmlet plans to expand to Hong Kong and Osaka while expanding their portfolio in Singapore and Tokyo

Singapore-based co-living rental startup Hmlet has raised a US$1.5 million in a seed round led by Aurum Investments, a sister company of co-working space Collision 8 (which explains the synergy).

Several angel investors also participated in the round, including angel investor Huang Shao-Ning, who is also co-founder of JobsCentral Group and partner at Entrepreneur First.

Hmlet will use the newly-raised financing to expand their business to Hong Kong and Osaka while expanding their rental home (or as they prefer to call it: “co-living spaces”) portfolio in Singapore and Tokyo.

Led by two expats, Yoan Kamalski and Zenos Schmickrath, Hmlet help young working professionals find rental homes that offer flexible rental leases. It leases houses from private landlords, refurnishes and redesigns them, then rents them out to tenants.

Tenants need to sign a lease of at three months (as per URA regulations) but have the option to terminate it prematurely should an emergency occur.

On top of that, it has a system that matches them to the right homes and tenants so incidents of conflicts between flatmates can be minimised. Hmlet is currently working on an app to facilitate a more seamless matching system.

Also Read: This startup wants to solve Singapore rental woes through flexible leases and flatmate matchmaking

Recently, the company acquired a new building spread across 7,000 sqft. in East Coast (339 Joo Chiat road), Singapore. Since its opening six weeks ago, the building already has 95 per cent occupancy.

Currently, Hmlet has over 170 members and claims to have earned US$1 million in revenue.

“We wanted to create co-living spaces that are responsive to the flexibility needs and stylistic preferences of today’s mobile, millennial workforce. Using technology and design, we transform properties into dynamic environments to empower the Hmlet community,” said Yoan Kamalski, CEO and co-founder of Hmlet.

“We are a community company. We use tech to empower people to create real and meaningful relationships. We have integrated tech into our day to day operations, bringing efficiency while connecting people with similar mind-sets together,” added Zenos Schmickrath, co-founder & MD heading technology.

Kamalski said that Hmlet’s community within Singapore is set to grow to 600 people by the end of 2018.

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Image Credit: Hmlet

 

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