The concept
of fractional ownership of luxury vacation homes is clearly hot with investors.
London-based
Altacasa is the third such startup to announce funding this month, in this case
a €2 million pre-seed round from angel investors.
Last
week one of the largest such companies, United States-based Pacaso,
raised $125 million in Series C funding led by Softbank Vision Fund 2.
And
at the beginning of September, Mexico
City-based Kokomo closed a $56 million round.
Through
Altacasa, users can purchase one-sixth, one-third or half of a home. The
company says it currently has about a dozen homes in its pipeline and is rapidly
expanding, with a focus on properties in desirable locations such as Cornwall
in the United Kingdom, Provence and the Alps in France and Costa Del Sol in
Spain.
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Altacasa’s
technology platform handles the scheduling, cleaning and management of each property.
Along
with adding properties, the startup says it will use the funding to develop its
technology and grow its teams in London, Paris and Luxembourg.
“I’ve always wanted to do
something that merged my passion for technology, finance and real estate and
Altacasa is the result. We want to make it easier, more affordable and smarter
for people to enjoy all the benefits of a second home, without the hassle of
maintenance or having to deal with inflexible and restrictive timeshares which
depreciate in value over time,” says Romain Saint Guilhem, founder and CEO
of Altacasa.
“Europe is the most
sought-after second home market in the world and we’re excited to make this
dream a reality for many and reinvent the experience thanks to technology.”
Altacasa spreads the cost
for taxes, such as stamp duty, across the owners and bundles it with the
property cost. If an owner wants to sell their share in a home, the other owners
have first right of refusal and Altacasa handles all resales on its platform.
Owners pay a monthly fee
to Altacasa for services such as airport transfers, cleaning and maintenance.