The Spanish long and medium stay residential rental platform has announced the closing of one worth 29 million dollars (25 million euros). As the company has explained, the investment has been developed in the midst of Covid-19, closing the first part in 2020, when it undertook a restructuring to adapt to the impact of the pandemic.
The entire board of directors with Kleiner Perkins, Seaya Ventures, Passion Capital and 14W have all tapped into this funding, primarily led by 14W. In addition, a good part of the shareholders that were already present in the capital have joined and new investors have joined, such as the international fund World Ventures. Spotahome’s shareholders include other international investment funds and venture capital companies, as well as different business angels. Among them are Howzat Partners, All Iron Ventures, Samaipata, The Venture City.
Since it began its activity, in 2014, Spotahome has raised more than 92.3 million dollars (80 million euros). In 2017, it added 16.1 million dollars (13.6 million euros) to a Series A investment round, which raised the financing obtained to date to 25 million dollars (21.1 million euros). A year later, the platform raised 40 million dollars (34 million euros) in a Series B round led by Kleiner Perkins, becoming the first Spanish company based in Spain to raise capital from a top tier 1 Silicon Valley venture capital.
In recent months, Spotahome has undertaken a business expansion process which has culminated in its entry into 28 countries, surpassing pre-Covid income and reaching profitability in this third quarter of 2021 for the first time since its inception, surpassing the income of 2019 and tripling those registered in 2020, a difficult year for the startup. With a rental volume of more than 173 million dollars (150 million euros) at the end of 2021, the company plans to at least double this figure in 2022.
“Our evolution since 2019 has been very positive despite the situation thanks to the excellent work of our team of 120 people. Our investors define us as Covid Winners, compared to other startups and competitors, because in this period we have transformed losses into profitability, doubled our inventory of properties and improved operations with the best valued customer experience in the sector”, ensures Alexander ArtachoCEO and co-founder of Spotahome.
With this injection of capital Spotahome will seek consolidate its growth in its 8 main markets and develop its expansion plan in the 28 countries in which it has a presence. Among the keys to its growth, Spotahome highlights that it has established a fully digital rental system that avoids physical visits to accommodation, making it easier for tenants virtual tours that include a detailed description of the property, 360º photographs, digital plans and high-quality videos made by professionals.
Four founders and one idea: the Spotahome story begins
The history of Spotahome begins in 2014, when its four founders who have traveled throughout the world, Alejandro Artacho, Bruno Bianchi, Hugo Monteiro and Bryan McEire After facing the obstacles of renting a home remotely, they realized that renting a house should be as easy as making an online purchase.
The startup started with just nine rental properties in Madrid and in just two hours they got the first tenant in , who made a reservation for a year and a half. The proptech that at times was called “the Spanish Airbnb”, managed over time to have a presence in 36 cities and 16 countries in Europe and the Middle East. In fact, the first years of the company were so successful that in 2016 Spotahome was the big winner among the more than 3,000 international startups and from various sectors that participated in the .
At that time, we were already highlighting one of its first attractions: users could make virtual visits to the flats through high-definition videos, photos and plans to achieve a complete remote shopping experience. Thanks to this recognition, Spotahome was able to access investors who have helped its rapid expansion.
Spotahome evolution: early years of unstoppable growth
After several rounds of investment in 2015, which included investors such as Howzart Partners, Passion Capital and business angels, Spotahone managed to close which was led by Seaya Ventures for 16.1 million dollars (about 13.5 million euros)
In this phase of the history of Spotahome in full growth and only three years after its foundation, the company reported excellent results: the startup obtained results multiplying by four its income year after year, consolidating its presence, developing new digital and technological products that have allowed it to improve the experience of owners and tenants, as well as its first acquisition.
Spotahome Group emerges, the first European holding company for online residential rental
In March 2018 Spotahome made its first acquisition with , an online community of international students that had a transactional model of housing rental.
After this purchase came Spothome Group, with which we were able to verify the birth of the first European holding company that has been dedicated to intermediating residential online rentals, positioning more than 115,000 flats, houses and rooms, in shared flats and in student residences. In 2021 Spotahome Group adds a portfolio of more than 150,000 properties, including rooms, apartments, houses and student residences in more than 100 cities.
In recent years, Spotahome also closed the signing of senior managers as , who after assuming the position of regional operations director of Uber in the EMEA region, joined Spotahome as Chief Operating Officer in February 2019, a position that he would leave in November 2020.
He also joined the company as a former Director of Strategy for BBVA’s Digital New Business Unit, who was also Director of Strategy, Programs and Processes at Eagle Hills, a real estate investment and development company based in Abu Dhabi. In July 2019 Garbayo was appointed General Manager in Spain for Spotahome.
The growth of this Spanish startup led it to Berlin, Milan, Paris, Lisbon, Dublin, Brussels and London in 2019, when it announced that it had achieved 2,000 million dollars in generated contracts for its European owners, with more than 7.5 million nights booked on its platform.
The impact of covid
Despite the good outlook and rapid and constant growth, Spotahome had to slow down its momentum after the global lockdown caused by the covid pandemic. The coronavirus crisis reached the Spanish proptech that has had to make major adjustments. As explained at the time the company initiated an ERE, in addition to having to face the closure of practically all its offices open outside of Spain.
However, it seems that the pandemic was not all to blame: the startup’s aggressive growth has come at a cost. In 2018 the company recorded revenues of more than 6 million euros. However, the losses exceeded 12 million, due to the great growth of their labor expenses and the profitability problems in each of the transactions that are carried out on their platform.
Now, everything indicates that this trend has changed, and the new results and the post-covid financing round announce a positive horizon for Spanish proptech.
Stay informed of the most relevant news on our news channel
Facebook Comments
Disqus