Futurestay has raised $2.4 million in a venture round led by BNM Ventures and New York Angels, with participation from Newark Venture Partners and Harvard Business School Alumni Angels. The company’s total funding to date is $6.5 million.
Founded in 2015, Futurestay is a technology platform for independent short-term vacation rentals that automates guest communications, bookings, pricing, payments, distribution and more. The company currently works with more than 100,000 properties in 120 countries, primarily in North and South America and western Europe, and has partnership with Booking.com, Airbnb and Vrbo.
The COVID-19 crisis has caused the company’s bookings to drop by about 85%. But founder and CEO Philip Kennard says he is confident demand for short-term rentals will return, so for now his focus is to improve the Futurestay product, increase partnerships and build supply – which he says continues to increase by about 3,000 properties per month.
“While bookings are down 85%, our volume of new property signups is nearly unchanged from pre-pandemic levels. They are down only 8% off their highest peak ever, which was in November,” Kennard says.
To reduce costs, Kennard says Futurestay has cut all marketing spending, put a freeze on hiring and cut contractor projects.
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