London-based proptech firm and flexible rental platform, Lavanda, has announced a fresh growth funding round of $7.25 million. The investment round was led by leading European proptech and fintech venture capital firm Finch Capital, with participation from US-based Starwood Capital via European venture partner Concrete VC. Founded in 2015, Lavanda’s property management software, which won a Shortyz Award in 2020, is designed to make it easy for owners and operators of residential apartment buildings to outperform conventional rental yields by tapping into short- and medium-term rentals alongside more conventional long-term tenancies. The Lavanda platform leverages technology and data to identify and solve structural inefficiencies within each building, optimizing, and automating.
The Lavanda team have cleverly identified this gap and developed a new software layer that makes it easy for institutional landlords to boost yields by renting their inventory by the day, week, month, or year in line with their business strategy. Therefore, traditional residential operators are now able to design and build sustainable, next-generation hospitality brands that are better able to capitalize on emerging market trends, generating huge incremental value for real estate funds and portfolios. Lavanda teamed up with UAE-based real estate developer Aldar Properties to facilitate flexible short-term stays for visitors to the Middle East via a new Cloud Living initiative. The vision underpinning the Cloud Living platform, and the goal of the strategic partnership between Aldar and Lavanda, is to create new residential concepts in Abu Dhabi that put customer experience and innovation at the heart of living in, and visiting, the region.