Most websites that receive Webby Awards sort of like the Oscars of the Internet have been around for at least a few years. Just to be recognized by Webby judges, even if they don’t choose a site as the top entry in its category, is quite an achievement.
So when Pittsburgh-based startup Rent Jungle was chosen as a Webby Official Honoree a designation given to fewer then 10 percent out of 10,000 entries it was a reason for the rental-housing search engine to celebrate.
Rent Jungle, which began in 2009 and now has eight employees, aggregates online listings of houses and apartments for rent and maps them so people looking for a place to live can see exactly where they’re located. “We generally have twice as many listings as anybody else,” Rent Jungle spokesman Josef Bookert says. The site’s latest hires were brought in to improve the spider that crawls the Web for rental listings in the United States and Canada.
Recently Rent Jungle has added some additional features, like write-ups on specific neighborhoods and a section with articles on moving, budgeting and handling roommates. “We’re really trying to make it the one-stop shop for moving,” Bookert says. It also just launched a sister website where renters can see how good of a deal they’re getting for where they live.
In April Rent Jungle announced that it received $300,000 in funding from angel investors. That money will go toward adding listings in more cities and releasing a mobile application, expected to be available in about three weeks.
Source: Josef Bookert, Rent Jungle
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen
