Kasa Living – a leading tech-powered hospitality brand – recently announced the close of a $70 million Series C fundraise. Citi Ventures and FirstMark Capital led the all-equity round with participation from new investors New York Life Ventures and Fireside Investments. And all major existing investors, including RET Ventures, Zigg Capital, and Ribbit Capital, participated in the twice-upsized and oversubscribed round.
Jonathan Langer, a seasoned industry veteran with board experience at KKR Real Estate Finance Trust, Westin Hotels & Resorts, and Hilton Hotels & Resorts, has joined Kasa’s Board of Directors.
This funding round is a strong validation of Kasa’s proven, asset-light business model, especially noteworthy against the backdrop of the most challenging PropTech fundraising environment in the past decade. And after the funding, Kasa has the strongest balance sheet in the industry, enabling Kasa to go on offense to grow its property portfolio meaningfully without needing further external funding.
Kasa has built a truly differentiated proprietary hospitality operating system that materially improves profits for owners and enhances the experience for today’s modern travelers across a diverse range of investor-owned accommodations, including multifamily apartments, single-family homes, and boutique hotels. And Kasa consistently improves property profitability by >50% and uplevels property review scores meaningfully across various channels. Kasa operates the number one rated properties in their category on Tripadvisor in Seattle, Chicago, Denver, and Austin, as well as top-5 properties in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.
Kasa’s success in increasing profitability after taking over properties has attracted interest from a consortium of real estate investors. And these partners have dedicated over a billion dollars to-date to invest in real estate powered by Kasa, setting the stage for rapid, capital-efficient expansion for the leading tech-powered accommodations company in the years ahead.
Kasa earned the trust of some of the world’s most discerning real estate owners, including global stalwarts like Greystar, AMLI Residential, and Starwood Capital and local hospitality investors and developers in cities like San Francisco, New York, Miami and Nashville, further driving its position as the industry standard for alternative accommodations.
KEY QUOTES:
“Kasa’s proprietary operating system allows its real estate partners to adapt to changing resident and guest preferences while optimizing for profitability, safety, and visibility across multiple asset types. We believe that Citi can be a valuable partner to Kasa and its real estate owners as they continue to expand their property footprint.”
— Jeff Flynn, Head of PropTech Investing at Citi Ventures
“We stand at a watershed moment in the evolution of the hospitality industry. Owners are grappling with rising costs, while consumers crave a seamless, digital-first travel experience in desired locations. Kasa is bridging this gap, revolutionizing the way owners and guests alike think about accommodations. Our model isn’t just an alternative; it’s the future.”
— Roman Pedan, Founder & CEO of Kasa
“The consumer trends behind furnished apartment rentals are very strong. The industry is at a turning point as apartment owners increasingly seek ways to harness this demand. We have been extremely impressed by Kasa’s platform and are proud to work alongside them in some of our communities. We believe Kasa has become an industry standard and are proud to have them as our recommended supplier partners for the sector.”
— Andrew Livingstone, Chief Operating Officer of Greystar, the largest manager of apartments globally
“Kasa is setting the industry standard in the short-term rental market, especially within institutionally owned apartment communities. We and our limited partners who represent over 2.5 million apartment units evaluated over a dozen companies in the sector, and Kasa stood out for the strength of its trust & safety systems, the quality of its guest experience and the level of profitability that it delivers to its partners.”
— Christopher Yip, partner at rental technology-focused venture capital firm RET Ventures
“We’ve been impressed by Kasa’s relentless execution and resilience throughout a rapidly changing real estate, technology and travel market. Kasa has continued to impressively scale utilizing an asset-light business model which has proven to drive long-term sustainable margins and meaningful public market equity value.”
— Adam Nelson, Managing Director at FirstMark Capital
“In my three decades in the hospitality industry, I’ve seen countless innovations come and go, but Kasa’s truly unique ability to empower smaller hotel owners to excel against industry giants is an enduring game changer for the future of hospitality. I have never seen hotels in high cost cities like New York or San Francisco operate at the margins and guest satisfaction scores that Kasa-powered properties deliver.”
— Jonathan Langer, Founding Partner and Managing Member of Fireside Investments
