The company, launched in 2013, seeks to simplify and streamline the process for renters and landlords.
“This was born out of frustration from finding housing at school,” said Alex Gross, Cribspot co-founder and business developer. Cribspot works by directly linking local landlords to its search service and bringing those rentals to students.
“We’re bringing on landlords who don’t have a website,” Gross, an IU ?alumnus, said.
Katie Birge, director of the Bloomington Technology Partnership, said there were no Bloomington services that matched what Cribspot is trying to provide.
“Actually, a couple Bloomington companies have pitched us ideas,” Birge said. “They all cover the rental market but are not competing.”
Other proposed ideas include property marketing and management services, Birge said.
The Technology Partnership hopes to encourage growth of Bloomington’s high-tech sector, according to the group’s website.
Zoe Bauer is the local Cribspot representative ?at IU.
The company was more active on campus in the fall, doing business and social media outreach, Bauer said.
“We’re at about 35 schools right now, and we’re adding new ones every week,” Gross said.
Cribspot hopes to differentiate itself from competitors by plugging into the community, Gross said.
“We want to feel like we’re meant for the city,” Gross said. “We actually work directly with ?landlords.”
Despite this sentiment, Birge did not immediately recognize Cribspot.
“I’m vaguely familiar with them,” she said.
Cribspot has 1,200 listing in 500 locations, Gross said.
Other renters use third party services or purchase commercial data feeds to find landlords, as opposed to the company’s community-based approach, ?Gross said.
Competitors in the online rental sector include Zillow and Abodo, as well as the classifieds juggernaut Craigslist, which offers renting options.
Zillow focuses mainly on real estate, while Abodo offers a similar platform to Cribspot.
“It’s a pretty crowded market,” Gross said. “Craigslist is our biggest ?competitor.”
The company received $660,000 in seed funding from Huron River Ventures and Detroit’s First Step Fund in September, according to tech site Venture Beat.
“Right now we’re just focused on growth,” ?Gross said.
Despite the expansion focus, the company does have plans to monetize in the future.
“We don’t want to hurt user experience by doing featured ads,” Gross said. “We envision building property management ?solutions.”
Zillow and Abodo are structured to charge landlords for featured advertising, according to each company’s website.
Cribspot’s property solutions would theoretically charge landlords for online property management ?options.
Another possible money-making feature, a rent pay option that had hoped to simplify rent and utility payments of renters, was recently discontinued, ?Gross said.
“That was an experiment we ran,” Gross said. “It was a decent option, but we wanted to focus on the ?search side.”
The rent pay option was still listed as available on the company’s website at ?press time.
“IU students have never had place to view all of our rental options,” Bauer said, “Cribspot lets us focus on our favorite parts of ?campus.”
The focus on students is what sets the company apart, Gross said.
“The way we’re doing it is the solution people need and the solution we would have wanted to have as students,” Gross said.
