Former Lazada exec’s co-living startup COVE raises over US$2M to take Hmlet head on
COVE, a new player in Singapore’s growing co-living space, has raised over US$2million in a seed funding round, co-led by Venturra Capital (Indonesia), Yuj Ventures (backed by global investment firm The Xander Group), Investigate (Singapore), and Picus Capital (Germany).
Singapore VC funds Aetius Capital and Found Ventures, besides a host of strategic angel investors also joined the round.
The co-living space provider plans to use the capital to expand its presence in Southeast Asia and build out its technology.
COVE was founded in 2018 by Sophie Jokelson, Luca Bregoli and Guillaume Castagne (formerly VP — Marketing– at Lazada) through startup generator Antler.
The platform leverages technology and design to rent out affordable rooms for tenants. Properties come fully-furnished with WiFi, weekly cleaning and all taxes and utilities for a monthly price. Contract terms are flexible with three months’ minimum stay. There is no agent fee.
Founders claim that COVE’s online listing platform and tenant apps reduce the time required to find, view and book a room to just a couple of days. It also uses an AI tool to help match flatmates based on their living habits, values and interests, and invest in smart home technology to enhance the living experience.
Since launch, COVE has expanded to reach nearly 200 bedrooms, with an ambition to grow rooms by over 10x in 2020.
For landlords, COVE offers guaranteed income and property management without the cost of agent fees. To expand their inventory of rooms, COVE will increasingly be working with corporate asset owners and developers to repurpose underutilised buildings or purpose-built for co-living. It currently has several developments of 30+ bedrooms each in their pipeline for launch in 2020.
CEO Castagne stated: “Our founding team has had plenty of bad experiences living in shared flats. We are super motivated to tackle this issue and deliver on our vision to provide millions of young people across Southeast Asia with hassle-free affordable homes that can be booked at the click of a button.”
In the co-living space, COVE is pitted against bigger rival Hmlet, which early this year raised a massive US$40 million in Series B from prominent VCs