“Apartment hotel” startup Domio has raised $100 million in a Series B round of funding, evenly split between equity and debt, the company has announced.
GGV Capital led the equity funding, with participation from SoftBank, Tribeca Venture Partners, among others, while Upper90 led the debt financing, as reported by TechCrunch.
Domio will use the funding to expand its business in the United States and globally to 25 markets by next year, up from 12 today. Prior to this round of funding, the company had only raised around $17 million, according to data from PitchBook. The company did not disclose its valuation.
Domio specializes in apartment-style accommodation rentals, which they refer to as apartment hotels. The company buys and leases homes, condominiums and apartment buildings specifically for families and large groups of travelers.
Domio founder and CEO Jay Roberts is quick to note that his company has little in common, however, with extended stay hotels such as Hilton’s Homewood Suites, which he refers to as “a soulless hotel chain.”
“This is the next step, a modern brand, the next Marriott but with a more tech-powered brain and operating model,” he told TechCrunch. “Domio is the anti-hotel chain.”
The company typically sets up shop in brand new buildings, working with developers who don’t usually cater to short term rentals. They consider Domio a viable alternative to selling as condominiums or apartments because their occupancy rating is as high as 78 percent. Investors have also begun to purchase buildings on Domio’s behalf.
“Investors are starting to go out to buy properties on our behalf and lease them to us,” Roberts said. “The next step is that Domio will manage these directly.”
GGV Capital’s managing partner Hans Tung explained why his company led the equity funding round.
“They have the right combination of vision, speed and agility. Domio’s model can readily tap into the global opportunity as they have ambition to scale to new markets,” he said. “The global travel and tourism spend is $2.8 trillion with 5 billion annual tourists. Global travelers like having the flexibility and convenience of both an apartment and hotel — with Domio they can have both.”
Startups that offer similar visions have also been successful on the funding front, with WhyHotel securing $20 million in Series B funding earlier this month, among others.
photo credit: domio
