Pittsburgh startup Rent Jungle, developer of a tool that aggregates online apartment listings with the precision of a machete, was acquired this week by The Rainmaker Group of Atlanta for an undisclosed amount.
Rainmaker provides revenue management and profit optimization solutions to the multifamily housing and gaming/hospitalities industries; it will use Rent Jungle as part of its rent optimization software system. Rent Jungle will remain in Pittsburgh and is expected to double in size from 10 to 20 in the coming year, says Jon Pastor, founder and CEO.
Pastor founded Rent Jungle in 2010. At the time, it was one of the first search engines to aggregate rental data for both multifamily and single-family homes from both large and small listing sites using spidering and indexing technology.
âWe are the Kayak of apartment listings,â Pastor said back in 2010.
A Harvard MBA and Fulbright scholar at Japanâs Kobe University, Pastor moved to Pittsburgh following stints with McKinsey, Google and Microsoft. Since starting Rent Jungle, the apartment search engine has grown to more than 1 million active listings and 1.5 million monthly site visits.
âThe Rainmaker Group is the perfect fit for a company like Rent Jungle,â Pastor said in a prepared statement. âWeâre looking forward to advancing Rainmakerâs analytical solutionsâ while improving Rent Jungleâs apartment search engine for current and future users and with Rainmakerâs assistance, continuing to evolve into a stronger, more innovative company within the multifamily arena.â
