Kasa Living, Inc., the company providing technology-powered flexible accommodations nationwide, announced that it has raised $50 million in funding. The capital includes $30 million in new Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital and $20 million in Series A funding led by FirstMark Capital less than a year ago. Participating investors also include RET Ventures, Zigg Capital, Allegion Ventures, and BoxGroup.
Kasa is leading a new wave of innovation in the hospitality industry, leveraging its proprietary technology and institutional expertise to transform vacant and underutilized real estate into high-quality, trustworthy accommodations for travelers. To date, the company has entered into management agreements with multifamily and hotel property owners in 35 markets across 15 states, enabling its partners to unlock new streams of income and realize the full potential of their buildings.
“We see a generational opportunity to innovate in a beleaguered travel sector. Kasa aspires to build a global accommodations brand beloved by guests, indispensable to property partners, and desired by neighbors,” said Roman Pedan, Founder & CEO of Kasa. “This raise allows us to grow our technology team significantly to power a flexible and distributed hospitality offering that delivers on our mission.”
Over the past nine months, Kasa has grown rapidly despite industry headwinds. Kasa has maintained occupancy rates of approximately 75% (more than double the hospitality industry average), expanded units under management by 50%, and launched in five new cities. This dramatic increase in market share, together with monthly revenues climbing 50$% since December, catalyzed a significant increase in Kasa’s valuation in connection with its most recent round.
Kasa plans to accelerate investment in proprietary technology, building on its existing suite of products and systems that has enabled the company to manage units across various property sizes and locations. By leveraging its platform, Kasa has generated positive operating margins, even amid historic hospitality industry lows, while maintaining exceptional guest experiences at an affordable price point in a way that was never before possible. Now, Kasa will redouble its efforts to streamline operations and minimize onsite overhead through cutting-edge features that focus on community safety, guest support, and the Kasa travel experience at all touchpoints.
“What Kasa customers see is just the tip of the iceberg. The enormous operational complexity behind the scenes is tackled by Kasa’s technology platform, allowing them to seamlessly host a large, diverse, and growing network of distributed accommodation units efficiently,” said Nick Shalek, General Partner at Ribbit Capital. “In defining a new, software-driven way to deliver high-quality hospitality, we see Kasa doing to hotels what Amazon Web Services (AWS) did to on-premise servers.”
In addition to creating a seamless experience for guests, Kasa also provides an end-to-end solution for its property partners. Lela Cirjakovic, Executive Vice President of Operations at Waterton, a national multifamily owner, and operator stated, “We selected Kasa as our short-term rental provider of choice after an exhaustive search. Kasa stood out for its relentless focus on the community and partnership. Their innovative process and technology help us provide a better neighbor and guest experience, and ultimately a more harmonious community.”
Pedan was previously an early member of KKR’s Private Equity Real Estate team. He founded Kasa in 2016 alongside pursuing his MBA at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and was joined by ex-Airbnb Product leader Craig Minoff, who now oversees Product & Operations at Kasa.
