Former Airbnb Execs Back Subletting Startup in NYC
Summary
The founders believe the growth spurt stems from Local Law 18, new regulations enacted last fall around short-term rentals.The startup, called Ohana, is meant to connect hosts and guests for the mid-term rental market, defined as stays between 30 days and 12 months. The platform facilitates an introductory video call between the parties, along with a sublease agreement and payments.The reason we had crazy growth in the spring is because theres so many people that come to New York City for the summer, and Local Law 18 brought us a lot of supply, Gershanok said from an apartment in Hells Kitchen that the founders are renting through Ohana. The jump in business came from word-of-mouth between interns that were moving to New York City for the summer, Gershanok said.Other clients are businesses, including Wells Fargo and Duolingo, that need short-term housing for summer interns, along with digital nomads and transplants that want to sublet while searching for a long-term lease.With improved financials, the Ohana founders in May set out to raise a seed round of funding.It only took one week.Ohana raised $3 million in an oversubscribed round led by Wave Capital, which was founded by Sara Adler, former head of corporate development of Airbnb, and Riley Newman, former head of data science of Airbnb.Adler declined to invest in Ohanas pre-seed round last year, but she was impressed with the progress.We got really excited about the specific window and niche that theyre starting with because I think that their approach is very different from some of the other players, and I think makes a lot of sense from a safety and trust perspective for hosts and guests, Adler said.We have the ability to move quickly when we get excited, and especially because Ive met with them before and we know this general market pretty well.Other investors in the Ohana round included: Spencer Rascoff, co-founder and former CEO of Zillow Surabhi Gupta, former director of engineering at Airbnb and Robinhood Lex Bayer, former head of payments for Airbnb Eric Lefkofsky, co-founder of Groupon and managing director of venture capital firm Lightbank Ali Partovi, CEO of venture capital fund Neo and former investor of AirbnbOhana was founded in 2023 with $1.2 million in pre-seed funding from startup accelerator Neo. Once we had clear traction, it was really easy.The seed funding will go toward hiring up to eight people, as well as growing in New York and later expanding in London and San Francisco.Gershanok and Halbert previously worked together as founders of The Keyper, a pocket that attaches to the back of a mobile phone and stores dorm ID cards and keys. The final price is listed on the website.The contract agreement includes an indication that the host has permission from the landlord to sublease the space.Most clients are individual tenants or have two or three apartments.