Georgian startup Roommate.ge wins ticket to SelectUSA Investment Summit

Seven Georgian startups pitched to a panel of four judges on February 27 to win a $1,100 ticket to the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland in June. The winner of this year’s pitch competition was Roommate.ge – a Georgian company that helps students find roommates and connects them with landlords offering affordable apartments.

The SelectUSA Investment Summit is the largest event in the United States for foreign direct investment promotion, connecting investors, companies, economic development organizations, and industry experts to investment opportunities in the United States.

Judges for the pitch competition included business leaders and angel investors, as well as U.S. government officials. The American Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Director George Welton moderated the competition.

American businessman and FinTech pioneer Andrew Thornhill, who served on the panel, says that events like these are an important part of U.S. investment in Georgia. “The United States and Georgia have a friendly and tight bond that is decades old already. The United States is keen to help grow the economies of all the post-Soviet states, but the U.S. has a very specific and unique interest in Georgia because the country has fiercely protected its culture and freedom for centuries and because of the country’s geopolitical position in the world. Economic prosperity often runs parallel to a strong democracy, and a strong, independent Georgia is very good for the region and the United States,” he tells Investor.ge.

Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi Sabrina Newton says the opportunity to participate in the SelectUSA Investment Summit can be a game-changer for Georgian startups looking to expand their operations. “The SelectUSA Investment Summit is the highest profile event in the United States to facilitate business investment,” she said, noting that the summit connects businesses with potential investors, provides access to valuable resources, and helps companies gain insights into market opportunities in the U.S.

“Participating in the summit helps businesses showcase their products or services to a diverse audience of investors, including venture capitalists, angel investors, and corporate partners, which could lead to opportunities for funding and partnerships. This year, we’re pleased to announce that the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia plans to lead the delegation of Georgian companies that participate in the summit,” she added.

This year’s competition targeted startups that were 10 years old or less, have generated up to $10 million in revenue, have fewer than 40 employees, and are looking to expand to the U.S. The seven Georgian startups that pitched in the competition included:

• Personator, a startup that aims to provide security to authentication methods.
• MLBee, a predictive customer retention tool for E-commerce platforms.
• VOOVOO, an intelligent co-pilot technology that aims to prevent speeding.
• Sidekick, a digital platform aimed to improve habit building.
• TasteIt, a social media platform that connects people based on their shared food preferences.
• Roommate.ge, a platform that aims to help students find suitable roommates and ensures safe leasing for landlords.
• eConsul.io, a platform that aims to aid with pre-travel processes, such as obtaining a visa.

The winning startup – Roommate.ge

Roommate.ge, which emerged as the winner of the competition, is a digital platform designed to help students match with potential roommates, find affordable housing, and split their rent. It also serves as a marketplace for landlords to find tenants and minimizes the risk of renting to students by offering insurance, legal assistance, an online payment system, and post-rental care to minimize property damage.

Company co-founder Marika Khantadze says the idea for the platform first came to her during a housing crisis in Tbilisi that left many students unable to find affordable accommodation. “A few years ago, the housing shortage left me in a situation where my rent suddenly tripled. I realized a lot of other students were in a similar situation where they could no longer afford housing – so I and my Roommate.ge co-founder decided to create a platform to help students find roommates to share the burden of housing costs.”

They originally launched in Georgia to help local students find housing, but soon discovered a large market of international students looking for an online solution to their housing search. “We saw the opportunity to expand our market to cater to both local and international students – and soon after, our platform evolved to include home listings that would simplify negotiations and management of rentals – helping renters and landlords alike.”

The platform, which currently has more than 5,000 registered users and 10 university partners in Georgia, hopes to expand to the U.S. in the coming years. Khantadze says she hopes the company’s participation in the SelectUSA Summit in June will be an important first step in achieving this.

“We hope to make a lot of connections while attending the summit,” she tells Investor.ge. “The real estate environment is extremely developed in the U.S. market, so it is essential for us to use this fact to our advantage to elevate our venture on a completely different scale. Traveling there will enable us to connect with universities and potentially forge new partnerships.”