EDITOR'S COMMENT
• The surge of investment in the short-term rental sector has thrust a number of property management companies into the spotlight but, as we have seen this week, that funding is also being injected into businesses with emerging, innovative models involved in the process of managing and / or acquiring short-term rentals.
After securing $2 million at launch earlier this year, fractional ownership marketplace Here allows investors to obtain partial ownership of vacation rentals, and has now secured $5 million in seed funding. The company handles the property management process from acquisition to management and retains at least a one per cent ownership in each property acquired, while allowing its members to earn monthly income.
Despite the raise, however, Here is reported to have let go around a third of its team in the last month, joining the likes of Sonder and Vacasa in announcing recent cutbacks.
Meanwhile, property management technology company Andes STR has partnered with global investment fund WEG Capital to close their first real estate private equity fund. While Andes provides turnkey services to source, market and manage properties, the fund has been set up to buy $25 million in single-family properties in the Orlando area and give investors exposure to a broader portfolio of short-term rental real estate properties.
You can expect to hear much more about institutional investment and fractional ownership in our next RockSTRz series from September - check out the full schedule here.
• The recent stories serve as interesting context for this week's RockSTRz webinar [Tuesday 19 July], when our expert panel will be discussing how to reduce pain points for short-term rental property managers around the world. I'll be joined by leading industry figures from Cloudbeds, Uplisting, Folio and Property Protect - sign up for free at this link.
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