After raising $20 million, accommodation aggregator Stayzilla plans to double fund raising this year from existing investors Matrix Partners and Nexus Capital and new investors. The funds will be used to double the rooms from the 45,000 listed on its site. Stayzilla has decided to adopt the US-based Airbnb’s business model in India.

Based on the concept of Air Bed and Breakfast, the California-based Airbnb is a Web site to list, find and rent lodging. It has over 1.5 lakh listings in 34 cities and 190 countries.

“The existing investors are likely to invest again this year and there would also be new investors as we are open to doubling the existing investment of $20 million. We would have a social community built into our accommodation site much along the lines of Airbnb which is also present in India, but exists as more of a transaction site today,’’ said Sachit Singhi, Co-Founder, Stayzilla.

The Chennai-based accommodation company wants to emulate Airbnb’s business model in terms of hosting guests with similar interests. It has incorporated the ‘Stayzilla special interest feature’ on its site to find a congregation of like-minded guests. “We want to have a social or community angle with the feature of ‘special interests’ on our site. We can only compare ourselves with what Airbnb offers internationally to its guests. But while Airbnb is more premium, we cater to all segments of guests offering more personalised services,’’ he added.

Focusing on the home and alternate stay category, Stayzilla plans to offer insurance policies to the property owners who list on its site. “It would be the first one of its kind in this industry whereby we are offering insurance products when it comes to property and bodily damages. We are in the process of engaging with insurance companies for the same,’’ added Singhi.

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