Germany: Homelike has raised US$14 million in a funding round led by Spark Capital, along with existing investors Cherry Ventures, Lürssen and Coparion.
Founded in 2015 by Dustin Figge and Christoph Kasper, Homelike offers 45,000 furnished apartments tailored for business travellers. To date, the company has accommodated guests for over 700,000 nights across 100 European cities including London, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Vienna and Zurich.
“Spark Capital is a top global investor that shares our obsession with building amazing products and will help us to continue growing the best platform for temporary business apartments in the market,” said Dustin Figge, CEO and co-founder of Homelike.
Alex Finkelstein, partner at Spark Capital, said: “Homelike targets one of the fastest growing rental segments with a global market volume of $160 billion that is still mainly served offline by cumbersome processes. We strongly believe that Homelike’s technology platform and convenient user experience will play a significant role in changing the way corporations book long-term apartments.”
Homelike serves over 15,000 corporate clients across the globe, including Capgemini and Thoughtworks, and ranging from small startups to large multinational corporations in various industries and locations.
Its interface, which includes individual corporate logins and user management as well as digital travel management with travel policy configuration and third-party integrations, enables corporations to manage temporary housing across their entire organisation. Homelike also handles the monthly payment process including invoicing with VAT, processes electronic signatures of online rental agreements, and offers a premium insurance to its users in cooperation with AXA.
“Compared to the online solutions and product features used by the hotel industry, the furnished apartment space is 10 to 15 years behind and we are working hard to close this gap every day,” said Figge.
The new capital will be used to scale the company, improving technology and product. Homelike will also be investing in the expansion of its apartment portfolio into new international business travel destinations. The company currently employs 85 employees and is hiring in all areas, especially in tech and product.</p
