A San Francisco startup is looking to hone in on the
lucrative alternative accommodations market for business travelers. 2nd
Address has raised $10 million to expand its Airbnb-style platform that’s
intended for business people looking for long-term stays in furnished homes.
GV (formerly Google Ventures) led the round with participation
from existing investors including Foundation Capital, Amicus Capital, Pierre
Lamond and others.
In a blog post, CEO Chung-Man Tam says the company will use
the funding to develop its product, including building new tools for hosts to
manage their homes and integrations with corporate booking, reporting and
billing systems.
The site currently offers more than 3,400 listings in five markets
- San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington and Boston - and will use
the funding to expand to new cities in the United States and to add a wider variety
of accommodations in every market.
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2nd Address says the platform is used by executives
from companies such as Google, SAP and Deloitte and educators and researchers
from universities such as Northwestern and Stanford.
“In days past, business travelers endured hours spent on the
phone with a broker, arranging showings and signing copious legal documents to
move into a furnished apartment,” Tam says.
“Today, business travelers on 2nd Address can access a
modern, online buying experience that can be done completely from the comfort
of their home.”
2nd Address was formerly HomeSuite. It went through
a rebranding in 2017 and shifted its focus to extended-stay rentals for
business travelers.
That’s also a niche Airbnb has been targeting with its
growing Airbnb for Work segment, which it says counts nearly 700,000 companies
as clients as of August 2018.