Summer, a proptech aimed at streamline second home ownership, today announced raising a $13.4 million seed funding round led by QED Investors and Lightspeed Ventures Partners, according to a press release.
The company, launched this year by two previous Airbnb employees (CEO Paul Kromidas and COO Woods Buckley), says it is will use the funding to expand its homes and markets, and increase its remote-first team size (placing emphasis on engineering, sales, interior design and operation roles).
Through its platform, Summer aims to allow prospective homeowners to try out homes before they buy and says it guarantees income after purchase to lower the costs of ownership.
It says it is on a mission to “change the way people buy and use second homes”, and notes that through its platform, prospective homeowners have an opportunity to own real estate at a lower cost with the ability to earn equity faster.
Summer says that features of the platform include:
- Home selection: giving buyers a selection of homes from Summer’s ready-to-live home portfolio.
- Ownership option: including immediate home purchase with guaranteed income, or Summer’s “try before you buy” offering.
- Streamlined experience: the company says that it designs and furnishes homes to maximize rental performance, and handles all subsequent logistics of ownership
- Access to the Summer Network: member’s gain access to Summer’s expanding network of homes
“We’re excited by the Summer team’s commitment to increasing access to home ownership. Home ownership should work for the owner, not the other way around,” said Frank Rotman, partner at QED Investors.
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Summer’s portfolio currently consists of seven homes across five markets, ranging the Hamptons and Hudson Valley in New York, Miami, the Colorado and Utah Rockies and Southern California.
The funding round also included participation from 1Sharpe Ventures, firstminute capital and a number of industry angel investors, according to the release.
“Summer’s Founders bring strong proptech experiences from their prior work at Airbnb and other leading companies in the space,” stated Ansaf Kareem, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, in the release.
“They are mission-driven in reimagining the process of owning and managing a second home. We at Lightspeed are excited to join them on this journey in democratizing access to second home ownership,” Kareem said.
In other recent proptech news, a Zavvie report showed how tech firms are changing real estate with iBuying, listing concierge and homeownership accelerator programs. Apis Cor also raised $35 million to disrupt the home construction industry.