Wander raises $20M to grow its luxury rental inventory

Nine months from its founding, Austin, Texas-based Wander has raised a $20 million Series A round led by QED Investors, bringing its total funding to $27 million.

Additional investors include Redpoint Ventures, Authentic Ventures, Fifthwall, Susa Ventures, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures, Packy McCormick, Sahil Bloom, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Alumni Ventures, Vibe Capital, a16z and others. 

The company says it will use the capital to purchase more homes to add to its portfolio, which currently includes five properties in California and Oregon. 

Wander says it aims to meet the needs of digital nomads and those who can work from remote locations by providing a reliable, high-quality stay that is suitable for work, with Wi-Fi networking equipment, indoor and outdoor workstations, large screen monitors, standing desks, professional microphones and more.

Each Wander home also comes with “state-of-the-art automation technology” so guests can use the Wander app for unlocking doors, controlling lights and “even accessing the Tesla that comes with each Wander home.” Homes currently on the platform also include wellness amenities such as a Peloton bike, Hydrow rowing machine and a treadmill and most have hot tubs and saunas.

Wander says it also provides “complete price transparency” with no hidden fees and taxes included in the nightly rate. 

“Our goal is to build the infrastructure to experience the world," says John Andrew Entwistle, founder and CEO of Wander. 

“We're scaling rapidly to meet the demand of our more than 30,000 community members, with dozens more properties coming soon. We're already seeing our vision for the future take shape.”

Wander says it will soon launch Wander For Teams, enabling companies to offer Wander credits as part of their benefits package.

“While we hopefully return to 'normal' in 2022, flexibility and remote work seems to be a common theme,” says Chuckie Reddy, QED partner.

“After two years of being restricted from travel and exploring new places, it has become clear how important it is to have a change of scenery from time to time. Blending those two things together in one extraordinary experience is exactly what Wander is all about. People are living busier lives than ever -- when they spend time to travel, it should be perfect.”