London Inc. Summer 2022 - 22

Upfront TechAlliance
A HOME AWAY
FROM HOME
Founded by students for students, a
tenant-landlord matching app aims
to remove the pain points in finding
off-campus housing
LONDON IS WELL known for being a student city. Each
September, new Londoners join our communities and study
at our world-renowned academic institutions, bringing
innovation and entrepreneurship along with them.
A group of roommates - and now entrepreneurs - were
part of the bustling student community looking for a place
to rent when they saw, and decided to tackle, a frustratingly
common student issue: housing.
The four co-founders - Marwan Shara, Jaiden Sarai,
Matthew Diab and Shubs Kaushal - were randomly paired
together as roommates in a student residence during their
first year together at Western University. When the year
came to an end and they decided to rent an apartment
together, they realized how difficult the process could be,
particularly for first-time student tenants.
After many unanswered emails and failed attempts, they
eventually found a place to live. But the prolonged process
planted the innovation seed, and reasoning that technology
could vastly improve the experience, they founded Cribify
(www.cribify.ca) in January and officially launched the appbased
platform in May.
Cribify is a data-driven rental unit and tenant searching
and matching application that takes the guesswork out of the
rental process. Built entirely by the young student founders
from front to back, the platform offers a way for students to
search through available properties and find housing in an
innovative, engaging way.
Designed to perform like Tinder or other apps of the like,
Cribify lets potential tenants swipe through photos and
information on available housing in their chosen search
criteria. Searching tenants can input information about the
type of property they are looking to rent, the geographical
location, their preferred price range and more.
To aid to the landlords listing on the platform, searching
tenants are encouraged to input things like personal
information about their credentials, personalities and
interests, which can take much of the legwork out of the
communication between landlords and housing-seekers.
When a potential tenant swipes right (suggesting an
interest in the property), the property owner can then verify
if the tenant is a good fit and initiate the in-app chat feature
to continue the conversation.
22 | londonincmagazine.ca | SUMMER 2022
Cribify is a data-driven rental unit and tenant matchmaking app
" Our goal was driven by the fact that we genuinely wanted
to solve a problem that we faced as student renters, " says
co-founder Shubs Kaushal. " We saw this huge gap in the
market that has been ignored, and with such a fragmented
market to begin with, it seemed like a no-brainer to introduce
a more customer-driven strategy. "
Of course, any tech launch is far from a no-brainer, and the
four founders, each studying full time in areas of business
management, software engineering and computer sciences,
worked around the clock to manage their time as they tackled
the marketing, strategy, coding and networking required to
get Cribify off the ground.
As a recent first-place winner at Western University's
Entrepreneurship Association Case Competition and
entrant into the Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship
powered by Ivey Business School, Cribify was also the recipient
of a $20,000 grant from the Morrissette Institute, which
has allowed two of the founders to focus on the enterprise
full-time throughout the summer as they gear up for their
first student-fuelled September renting season.
Says Kaushal, " Using the academic institutes and other
programs for entrepreneurial aid in the city, we are able to
continue our growth and connect with the community and
other entrepreneurs. "
QUINN PALMER
http://www.cribify.ca http://www.londonincmagazine.ca
London Inc. Summer 2022

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