Roomi — The Roommate Match App — Collects $2M

Anyone who moves to a big city knows the pain of finding a place, let alone a place with a roommate who one can only hope won’t be the next Craigslist killer.

That’s where Roomi comes in to make sure the match between roommates is a better fit. Roomi, in its current stage, is an app that connects New Yorkers to other New Yorkers looking for a roommate. The app launched yesterday (June 12) and launched with some big funding behind it, TechCrunch reported.

Roomi scored $2 million in seed funding, according to the report, which noted that funding was led by DCM Ventures. Other participants included Great Oak Ventures, Sand Hill East, Jeff Dishner, Greg Kidd, Arihant Patni, Jeff Penney, and AngelList Consumer Fund.

So how exactly does Roomi work? Well, it’s like the Match.com, but for roommate searches. Instead of asking about hobbies and interests, it asks more personal information about daily habits, like allergies, habits, daily routines and schedule questions. The app aims to eliminate any surprises that often come with adding any new roommate.

Once matched, Roomi also has a built-in message option so its users can connect via the app to people they may potentially live with. It also allows people who are interested in a particular apartment to see if they are the right match. Roomi also lets users wanting to find a roommate advertise on the app.

“We built Roomi to change the way the world thinks about roommates,” the company’s site states. “We envision a world in which the person you live with matters as much as the place. We believe in taking the fear of the unknown out of moving and helping people feel at home wherever they live.”

What’s unique to Roomi — and is perhaps a sign of the times — is that it’s a fully mobile app to connecting people, instead of solely offering an online platform. Because of its in-app capabilities, it also can verify users using Facebook Connect.

While the service is free at its launch, CEO and founder Ajay Yadav told TechCrunch that it may look to monetize the service by adding in other rental services, like rent pay (a la RadPad) and credit checks. Roomi is currently available on the iPhone but plans to eventually expand to Android.

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