A short-term rental company landed a $125 million slice of investors’ rising interest in flexible apartment living.
Landing closed on the Series C funding through both equity and debt financings. The round was led by Delta-v Capital and included investments from Greycroft and Foundry.
The Birmingham, Alabama-based company is part of a growing group of companies that lease apartments to tenants who can rent them out on a short-term basis, as opposed to a yearly contract. Members can move around without restrictions to furnished units in the Landing network and renters only need to provide a two-week notice.
Also in the space is Adam Neumann’s new company Flow, which is looking at offering furnished apartments with short-term leases. The venture, set to launch next year, scored a $350 million investment from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, sources previously told The Real Deal.
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Placemakr, the company formerly known as WhyHotel that rose to prominence for its pop-up hotels, has a similar model. The company plans to complete $1 billion in property acquisitions in the next two years and recently raised $90 million in funding.
Landing’s model is attractive because landlords can command higher rents for short-term leases. It’s also a bet that remote work will free up more workers to live nomadic lives. But the exact size of the market is unknown, as many workers have existing obligations such as family or work keeping them in one place.
Landing plans to use the money to expand the number of existing apartments. The company reported a 380 percent increase in membership in the past year.
The company was founded in 2019 by Bill Smith, who grew frustrated with apartment options when traveling between Birmingham and San Francisco. Landing has over 20,000 available listings across the 375 U.S. cities.