Who's behind CoRent

I'm Moe Mathews. I'm a Marine Corps veteran and a licensed Class A contractor, and through Fresh Start Group I run shared homes in the Richmond area.

Renting by the room works. Renters get a private room they can afford, and owners earn more from the same house. What didn't work for me was what the platforms took: a cut of every rent payment, plus a booking fee every time a new tenant moved in.

So I built CoRent. Hosts keep 95% of the rent, with no booking fee. Renters get a private room in a shared home, and everyone they live with has verified their ID. Applications, rent and the day-to-day running of the house happen in one app.

We started in central Virginia — Richmond, Petersburg and Colonial Heights.

— Moe Mathews, founder