Airbnb Leads B Series Of $ 160 Million For Starting Short Term Leasing Companies

On Wednesday, the start-up of the short-term lease Lyric announced the closing of a $ 160 million Series B financing in order to bring its highly organized leasing spaces into new markets across the globe. United States.

Airbnb led the tour. Other attendees include Tishman Speyer, RXR Realty, Evidence Ventures, SineWave, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, former Twitter operations director Adam Bain, and Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht NEA, SignalFire, FifthWall and Tusk Ventures.

In fact, Lyric operates leased space, unlike the existing Airbnb market, which is largely composed of individual owners listing their own homes and apartments. The company is proud of its aesthetic living spaces, intended for business travelers.

Lyric, who currently operates in 13 cities, tries to design each space to reflect the city in which she lives and works with local businesses and cafes to make each space feel a little different, Business Insider said. co-founder and CEO Andrew Kitchell.

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"The idea that short term rentals are only reserved for backpackers and stag nights is false," said Kitchell. "And, in fact, business travelers are looking for more and more spaces of this type and we can develop and maintain them."

Airbnb, now a Lyric investor, is famous for its initial philosophy of asking forgiveness, rather than permission, when entering new markets. However, Kitchell explains that Lyric uses a different tactic: he contacts the owners of multifamily buildings before opening a shop and renting or renting space directly from the developer, so that no one is caught off guard and everyone be happy. l & # 39; arrangement.

Kitchell says that with this investment, Airbnb will provide the legal expertise that Lyric will need, as its growth will inevitably present new regulatory and legal challenges.

"Traditionally, the world of technology and the real estate world have not gone hand in hand and this is a job we have been doing very hard for 3 years to show a bit of how to get it done right. said Joe Fraiman, president and co-founder of Lyrique. "We want to show how we could be a great partner for real estate teams while providing a fantastic supply to the rental ecosystem in the short term while doing so in a fully compliant manner."

Kitchell believes that Lyric represents a new category of real estate – something that is not quite a hotel, but that is not quite the same as staying in someone's apartment. else via Airbnb.

Kitchell and Fraiman explain that the need for travel based on experience has been popularized by the millennial generation, which now accounts for nearly half of business travel expenses – but other customers have quickly realized. Kitchell said his team plans to add a loyalty program to compete with more traditional hotel chains.

"We believe that some of the competitive gaps we have built around data and software and that some operational elements give us the opportunity to create a lot of changes," Kitchell said. "We have a pretty strong opinion about where the space is going and it's really valuable."

Kitchell and Fraiman said Lyric was not currently planning a release, they "have too much fun" to hand over the reins to other leaders.