UPDATED, June 15, 12:52 p.m.: Co-living startup Common raised $16 million in a new venture funding round that included firms with ties to the LeFrak, Mack and Milstein families.
Investment firm 8VC led the funding round. The Milstein Family’s Circle Ventures, Solon Mack Capital, the leFrak Organization, Maveron, Lowercase Capital, Slow Ventures and Pierre Lamond also chipped in.
Common, founded by Brad Hargreaves in 2015, rents entire apartment buildings and then sublets rooms in shared units. It currently operates two buildings in Crown Heights and one in Williamsburg, and plans to expand to more New York City locations as well as San Francisco and Washington D.C. by the end of the year. A third Crown Heights location is scheduled to open in July, Hargreaves said.
The company had previously raised $7.35 million in a Series A round.
Hargreaves told The Real Deal that it will spend the bulk of the newly raised money on developing technology that will allow Common members to better communicate with each other – for example to schedule and coordinate events.
He added that Common has no plans to partner with the LeFraks, Macks or Milsteins on real estate deals for now, but wants to tap into their “immense expertise” to help grow its business.
Correction: a previous version of this post omitted Common’s second Crown Heights location and incorrectly claimed that Common rooms are rented out on a month-to-month basis. The minimum stay is, in fact, 90 days.