Master lease co-living startup Bungalow raised $14 million in a Series A funding round, the company said Thursday.
Khosla Ventures, Atomic VC, Founders Fund, Cherubic Ventures, and Wing Venture Capital led the round. Separately, Bungalow also secured a $50 million debt facility from an unnamed lender.
Bungalow master-leases houses and small multifamily properties, furnishes them, and sublets rooms to customers willing to share a home with other people. The company also takes care of common spaces, cleaning and WiFi. Most of its properties have three to seven bedrooms, and customers are expected to commit for at least four months.
Founded in early 2017 by Andrew Collins and Uber veteran Justin McCarty, the San Francisco-based company currently manages several hundred apartments and homes. Around 20 percent its units are in New York City.
The company hopes to appeal to landlords by leasing properties for several years and maintaining them on a regular basis.
Unlike its peers Common, Ollie and WeLive, Bungalow shies away from major multifamily properties and new developments. It also markets itself as a cheaper alternative, with rents for a bedroom ranging from $800 to $1,700 per month.
Bungalow rejects the co-living label, referring to itself as a “residential real estate platform.” McCarty said the company doesn’t claim to offer a completely new way of living. Instead, it wants to make an existing one more efficient. “Living with roommates is working really well for a lot of people, and we’re trying to make that easier,” he said.
Bungalow says it plans to use the new venture capital to invest in its research and design, and the credit facility to open new locations. The company has properties in New York, Los Angeles, the Bay area, San Diego and Seattle, and is expanding into Portland and Washington, D.C. By 2019, it hopes to expand to other countries.