modern businesswoman replaces several people at once
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We’ve discussed the topic of real estate-as-a-service in this column enough that all readers will by now know what I’m talking about. Providing the right services to end users of real estate (be they residential tenants, office workers, or shoppers) has two very positive outcomes: greater customer satisfaction which increases their retention rates and possibly also the asset’s rent roll, as well as the possibility to tap into new revenue streams by bringing other services the customers also desire in situ.
In the past, we looked at a few ways successful startups are leveraging this trend, such as Chicago-based Livly and New York-based Hello Alfred. Here are seven more residential focused startups seeking to deliver win-win-win lifestyle gains that you should know about.
Onsite services
Lifestyle is becoming of key importance in the residential rental and office market, and there are several ambitious startups ready to leverage this opportunity.
San Francisco-based Amenify is a turnkey solution for staffing onsite amenity service teams including dog walking, cleaning, fitness, and events. The startup functions as a B2B marketplace for service providers, who are selected by Amenify to deliver the experiences and lifestyle that fits the desired brand of the property. Since it was founded in 2016, the company claims to have served hundreds of properties and thousands of residents across 15 markets.
Like Hero in the UK, which we looked at in a previous article, New York-based Fitspot provides a fully managed wellness solution for office, residential and retail properties. Their goal is to help boost morale and drive productivity for companies, and to increase engagement and improve the lifestyle and experience of residential tenants.
Fellow New Yorker hOM has a similar offering. They partner with third-party event planners fitness trainers and more to organize on-site events and activities. The goal is to create a unique living and working experience for building occupiers.
Living together
London-based acasa focuses more on what gos on inside the home. It caters to sharers, providing them with a management tool designed to help them run their shared home. It is designed to track household costs, as well as splitting payments for rent and bills.
Moving
New York-based Moved offers a proposition that might sound too good to be true: sign up to their app and get your personal moving concierge for free (you still have to pay for the actual move though). They seek to minimize the stress of moving by partnering with moving companies and providing all of the customer service on their behalf, as well as liaising with the properties with the goal of providing clients with a seamless customer experience.
Designer furniture for the rental market
Los Angeles-based Fernish is a furniture-as-a-service company that works with rental property owners so that their tenants can have a bespoke space that feels like they own it. The tenants rent furniture packages that fit their lifestyle, which they can change or upgrade as their lifestyle needs dictate. This business model also has a green element to it, as it works towards reducing the amount of “fast” furniture that ends up in landfill each year. The company claims its furniture to be circular-ready, which means it can be reused after the first rental.
German startup Roomhero provides a very similar service – minus the rental – claiming to be Europe’ first digital and fully integrated interior designer. They work as a one stop shop with a fixed-priced guarantee, working with landlords to design the perfect interiors for their target market and their budget, and then fully outfit the properties as well. They aim for quality, working with the best suppliers to deliver long lasting premium interiors.
There are of course some great management and maintenance platforms that provide a great living experience to residential tenants without them knowing anything about it, as well as office-focused occupier apps, both categories which we have already looked at in this column. And, as the space-as-a-service credo is only going to grow from here, we can expect the list to get longer!