Founded in 2011, Stanzazoo has grown to become one of Italy’s most well-known classifieds websites. Stanzazoo landlords and tenants will now gain access to a target group of nearly eight million users via the HousingAnywhere platform.

“Italy is fast becoming one of the most important markets for HousingAnywhere”

It is HousingAnywhere’s third acquisition over the past 12 months – the company has also acquired the Icelandic rental platform Rentmate and German classifieds website Studenten-WG.

HousingAnywhere said that the acquisition of Stanzazoo marked a further step towards reaching its goal of becoming the largest pan-European rental platform by the end of 2021. 

“Italy is fast becoming one of the most important markets for HousingAnywhere,” said Djordy Seelmann, CEO of HousingAnywhere. 

“The acquisition of Stanzazoo, a household name in Italy, greatly facilitates our access to the entire Italian market. We will immediately gain market share in an array of Italian cities, solidifying our position on the Italian real estate market to stay ahead of the rest. 

“Throughout 2021, HousingAnywhere will be scaling up its operations across Italy. By doing so, we expect to establish ourselves as the leading player in the Italian rental market by the end of 2021.”

Gabriele Manna and Claudia Mastromauro, the founders of Stanzazoo said that giving its customers access to a larger, international market was the logical next step for Stanzazoo. 

“We are glad we will continue this growth under the umbrella of a company that shares our belief that a superior product, focused on automation and the best user experience, will lead to the best match between tenants and landlords,” they said.

The Stanzazoo platform will remain accessible until February 7, after which all the traffic will be redirected to HousingAnywhere and accounts will be taken offline. Until then, users on Stanzazoo will be invited to create an account on HousingAnywhere.

Current Stanzazoo users will have access to all the benefits that come from using the HousingAnywhere platform, such as AI for fraud detection, smart algorithms to determine the optimal rent (RentRadar), and easy digital payment solutions (HousingAnywhere Payments). 

“Realising our future growth through M&A is part of our strategy. We are committed to the Italian market and we plan to bring a strong contribution to improving the experience for both tenants and accommodation providers, to make online rental easier, safer, and ultimately, more efficient,” Seelmann added.