In a nutshell
- Blueground, a Greek-founded proptech that offers short-term furnished apartment rentals, secured $45M in Series D funding that as per a recent interview with founder Alex Chatzieleftheriou puts them at a bit over $1B valuation.
- The round was led by Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, with the participation of WestCap, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC, which replaced and upsized the $40M of debt Blueground obtained from Silicon Valley Bank in 2021.
- The new investment will be allocated for expanding the market reach, technological development, and a potentially Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Their background story
Alexandros Chatzieleftheriou, the visionary behind Blueground, encountered a couple of challenging years booking hotel rooms while traveling as a consultant for McKinsey. That made him create a marketplace designed to conveniently connect travelers with their destinations, making the process accessible to all.
Blueground is a proptech company that is reinventing the way people live by making apartments available where they want, when they want, and on the terms they want. They offer fully-furnished homes with on-the-ground support for business travel needs.
In 2013, Alexandros launched Blueground, a platform enabling travelers to book flexible accommodations from a network of thousands of fully furnished, high-quality homes worldwide. Blueground places significant emphasis on the location of its apartments, prioritizing vibrant, well-connected neighborhoods as a key value proposition.
Aside from working as an intermediate between clients, private landlords and property management companies around the world, Blueground handles the apartment furnishing and provides an array of 24/7 support services, including cleaning, wellness offerings, and grocery delivery.
As the company states, their mission is to “make people feel at home wherever they choose to live”. Therefore, the company culture enables the employees to adopt the same mindset, having the flexibility to work from wherever they decide.
Blueground started in Athens, Greece, and has since grown its presence to the USA, Asia, UAE and other parts of Europe. The company currently manages 15K apartments in 32 markets in 17 countries.
Blueground reports $560M in gross revenue in 2023, 70% higher than the year before.
In their own words
“Given the changes in the venture capital landscape, being capital efficient from the early days is now much more important and founders should start thinking about that early on,” said Alexandros Chatzieleftheriou, CEO and co-founder, previously for The Recursive.
“The trust from leading investors like Susquehanna and very reputable banking institutions like Barclays and the syndicate banks is a testament to Blueround’s financial performance and global leadership,” shared Alexandros in a Linkedin post.
