Chinese big data technology firm Wecash announced recently a plan to invest 10 billion yuan (approx. US$1.5 billion) in the building of a smart internet platform for apartment rentals in Guangzhou over the next year, with the aim of transforming the local home rental sector through the application of new technologies.
As early as 2015, Wecash started collaborating with rental service providers to create a home rental scenario-based credit system and risk control model, providing credit services for over one million rental transactions. In 2016, Wecash created the Meiwo brand with the goal of exploring various service scenarios by applying advanced technologies to the rental market and improving the user experience with smart internet apartment rental services.
In the second half of this year, Meiwo was upgraded to Wecash's unified Meiwo Meiyu brand and added over 10,000 homes available for rental at its company stores in China's first-tier cities, in addition to the latest iteration of its B2B2C management platform for long-term rentals. The new version of the platform empowers property management firms and operators to deliver integrated value-added services in terms of traffic, technology, supply chain management, financial management and brand power.
As part of Wecash's development strategy for its short-term rental andalternative accommodation services, the company launched a second rental project Box Space. Box Space is designed specially to provide the young adult demographic with a smart shared hotel accommodation experience. In addition, Wecash made a strategic investment in ttg, an urban travel and accommodation service provider also targeting young adults. ttg defines its business strategy as "1+X", which stands for a flagship location in the central business district of a city plus several satellite offices distributed in and around the same city.
meiwozufang.com chief executive Xiao Zhujun explained, with the implementation of an intelligent big data evaluation system for home rentals, Meiwo opens up the availability of an apartment or home for immediate occupancy by qualified tenants based on their credit rating without requiring an advance deposit. In addition, with a seamless connection to banks, Meiwo also rolled out a first: payment of the rent in installments for cash-strapped tenants.