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New backer also participated in the financing, which brings San Francisco-based Zumper鈥檚 total funding since its 2012 inception to more than $150 million. and led the company鈥檚 $46 million in September 2018 (at which time the company had a pre-money valuation of $200 million, according to 附近上门). The company has a long list of high-profile investors including , and .

, CEO and co-founder of Zumper, declined to disclose the company鈥檚 current valuation, saying only it is 鈥渁 significant step up from our 2018 valuation.鈥�

Zumper鈥檚 self-described mission is to make renting an apartment 鈥渁s easy as booking a hotel.鈥� The startup claims to be the largest privately held rental marketplace (in terms of users) in the United States. Last year, 67 million people used Zumper to find, list, or rent properties in the U.S. and Canada. Georgiades expects that number to climb to 80 million this year, saying he company helps advertise more than 1 million listings a month.

鈥楢irbnb for one-year leasing鈥�

The residential real estate market space is a crowded one for sure, and Zumper competes with the likes of publicly traded .

For Georgiades, Zumper differentiates itself in that it helps people in all steps of the process, making it a true 鈥渆nd-to-end鈥� marketplace.

For example, Zumper offers renters the ability to find, apply for and then book an apartment. They can also digitally pay their rent to their landlord. It also helps small landlords and multifamily properties with things like finding tenants, marketing and collecting rent.

The company makes money in two ways: Landlords pay to be at the top of its feed for more exposure, in a classic lead-generation model; and also pay Zumper to close leases. For example, if a landlord uses its tools to conduct a transaction, it pays Zumper a fee per transaction.

Georgiades declined to disclose revenue figures but said the company saw its 鈥減retty sizeable鈥� revenue rise by 100 percent year over year last year.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not going from a small number to a small number,鈥� he told 附近上门 News.

Meanwhile, the company doubled its headcount to 200 compared to about 100 a year ago. Zumper鈥檚 employees are spread across offices in San Francisco, Scottsdale, New York, Chicago and Providence, Rhode Island.

Looking ahead, the company will use the new capital to grow its sales and engineering teams and invest in scaling its transactional tools. Currently, 90 percent of its audience finds Zumper organically, according to the company.

鈥淯ltimately, we want to be the Airbnb for one-year leasing,鈥� Georgiades said.

For , co-founder and managing partner of e.ventures, Zumper鈥檚 progress so far has been 鈥渟triking.鈥�

Yesterday, we wrote about a similar offering in the United Kingdom. London-based it had raised about $13 million. Goodlord鈥檚 SaaS (software as a service) platform aims to make the rental process smoother and more efficient for landlords, leasing agents and renters alike. It handles a wide range of services from contracts to references to payments.

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One such company is Austin-based , which has developed an agile leasing platform and network. The startup just raised $8 million in Series A funding led by of (who鈥檚 also backed the likes of and ). Breyer is contributing $5 million of the capital. , the venture arm of commercial real estate brokerage giant , put up the remaining $3 million. The financing brings Swivel鈥檚 to $14.6 million, according to its 附近上门 profile.

Swivel raised an $850,000 seed round in 2016 and then another $1 million in June 2017. In 2018, the company in what Swivel founder and president described as a Seed 2 round.

The startup has been testing its model across Texas, mostly in Austin and some in Dallas and Houston.

鈥淓verything seems to be proven right and working,鈥� Harmon told 附近上门 News. 鈥淪o we raised this round to scale up nationwide.鈥�

How it works

founded Swivel in late 2016 with some initial incubation capital from . He and Floodgate Co-Founder had started and sold a software company together in the late 1990s called , and decided they wanted to work together again.

They both ,鈥� Harmon said, and felt like the commercial real estate office market needed to be disrupted.

So how does it work? Pre-qualified member companies can contract with Swivel鈥檚 landlord partners for turnkey office space on flexible terms with little or no upfront capital expenditure and no lease lock-in.

Landlords use the company鈥檚 agile leasing platform to backstop their leases for member companies. (I wrote about a similar startup, Landing, recently that is focused on flexible apartment leases). Using Swivel, leases are typically a 12-month commitment with a maximum of four years.

Clients are able to use Swivel鈥檚 software to configure and design the space however they want; most offices are between 3,000 and 10,000 square feet. Companies need only to give 60 to 90 days notice before moving out and then are not charged any penalties or move-out fees, and don鈥檛 have to deal with subleasing.

Since its network launch in 2019, Swivel has signed up over 30 landlords representing more than 150 properties across Austin, Dallas and Houston.

What it is and what it鈥檚 not

Harmon is quick to point out that unlike other flexible workspace operators such as or , Swivel is not a landlord. It does not lease space.

鈥淲e鈥檙e more like a VRBO for office space,鈥� he told me. 鈥淧eople who own properties use our technology and platform to lease to new tenants on more flexible terms. Landlords make the money and share their profits with us.鈥�

For example, a landlord can open up two floors in a building specifically to be listed via Swivel. They can charge a (10 to 20 percent higher) price per square foot because of the flexible terms, but it will still come out to about half the cost of a co-working space, Harmon said. Swivel will completely furnish the space, and 鈥渢he building becomes more valuable,鈥� according to Harmon.

鈥淲e work with hundreds of landlords,鈥� Harmon said, 鈥渁nd we allow them to make more money by bringing a different kind of client into their building and providing a new class of service.鈥�

Swivel is also not out to replace commercial real estate brokers, opting instead to partner with them so it saves money on marketing as well. It works out well for all involved, Harmon said.

Looking ahead

Swivel鈥檚 target market is tech-enabled companies in their growth phase, which make up about half of the tenants leasing through its platform. (It works with tenants such as Dremio, Graylog, Guideline 401k, hOp, Plivo, Samcart, TalentRobot, and Vertify.)

The process is a more appealing one to tech upstarts that simply prefer a more digital process in general.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e just used to flexibility and that sort of convenience in other parts of their lives,鈥� Harmon said.

But Swivel has also helped a number of multinational companies that require flexibility for their satellite offices.

The company plans to use its new capital primarily to expand across the U.S. in 2020. It is in talks with landlords in Boston, New York, Northern Virginia, Charlotte, N.C., Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Utah, Denver and San Francisco.

鈥淓xpansion cities are a finite list and expand based on how our landlord partnerships unfold,鈥� Harmon said. 鈥淟andlord partners will determine the order and timing of opening up each market.鈥�

For his part, Breyer believes Swivel’s business model is an ideal approach to help landlords be able to meet the evolving needs of tenants.

“As a VC, one of my mantras [to portfolio companies] is ‘don’t sign anything longer than two years,’ ” Breyer told me. “Real estate hasn’t kept up with that, as the leasing business hasn’t yet been tech-enabled, particularly in very important markets, like Silicon Valley and Austin.”

In general, he also believes flexible leases will become more and more important in general given workforce needs.

“The next generation thinks about flexibility first and foremost,” Breyer told me. “Swivel gives landlords the opportunity to attract the tenants of the future.”

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