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Houst (Formerly Airsorted)

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Houst is a global company that makes hosting hassle-free on platforms like Airbnb, HomeAway & Expedia

119%
 - 
Funded 30 Mar 2018
£6,000,008 target
£7,254,256 from 1,273 investors
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Business overview

Location London, United Kingdom
Social media
Website www.airsorted.uk
Sectors Property Mixed Digital/Non-Digital B2C
Company number 09423618
Incorporation date 5 Feb 2015
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Investment summary

Type Equity
Valuation (pre-money) £26.1M
Equity offered 21.61%
Tax relief

EIS

  • Idea
  • Market
  • Key terms
  • Team
  • Updates
  • Investors 1,273
  • Discussion
  • Documents

Idea

Introduction

NOTE TO INVESTORS: Investors via Seedrs are investing on the same share price as the lead investors in the funding round, but into a different share class. Please see more information under "Round Details" below.

Highlights:
- £25,000,000 in host revenue generated
- Helped over 3,000 hosts
- Aiming for 38 cities by the end of 2019

Our mission is to make hosting hassle-free for everyone. We market our hosts’ homes for short-lets, then look after guests from start to finish. Renting out your home can be a hassle - from dealing with guest inquiries to cleaning and arranging key exchanges - especially if you are away or out of the country yourself.

We build technology that enables us to look after the homes and guests of thousands of hosts, in multiple cities around the world.

We endeavour to create authentic and unique experiences for our guests and hosts. The extra income enables them to do more of what they love. Home sharing is not accessible for many homeowners, who don’t have the time or the expertise - we’re here to solve that. We host. Our clients earn. That's Airsorted.

Intended impact

Our founder, James started life in finance in New York and in the City of London, for a large investment bank. Wanting the freedom to create a business, he quit his job and attended a coding bootcamp. While doing so he put his place on Airbnb and realised three things:

1. There’s loads of money in it
2. There’s loads of work involved
3. No one’s connecting all the dots – cleaning, laundry, guest communications, pricing (etc)

He threw up a landing page to gauge market demand and very quickly realised it was massive and over 3 years later Airsorted has grown into what it is today, managing 1,000s of properties in 10 cities around the world.

Substantial accomplishments to date

2015.
• Airsorted incorporated
• 1st ever test to gauge demand
• We launched in London, where it all began

2016.
• We launched 2 cities....
• Edinburgh
• Dublin
• We raised seed funding of £1.5 million

2017.
We launched a further 6 cities and gathered momentum....
• Sydney
• Brighton
• Bristol
• Brisbane
• Auckland
• Melbourne

2018.
We've already launched our first city this year...
• Paris
• Over £25,000,000 of host revenue managed

Monetisation strategy

We have a pricing model that starts from 12% + VAT in London and 15% + Local Tax elsewhere. This model means we only make money when our hosts make money, completely aligning the interests of the company with our clients.

Our strategy in the short to medium term is to focus on expansion of our current model into new markets and not to look at alternative forms of revenue growth. In the long term possibilities are available around monetising services to guests.

Use of proceeds

This Series A round is being raised to fund global expansion and product development. The more that is raised the faster we can aggressively pursue new markets and acquire new clients.

Global Expansion - We have an ambitious plan to be live into a total of 38 cities by the end of 2019, launching at least 4 cities every quarter from now on.

Product Development - Our tech focus means that as far as we know Airsorted has the best technical product in the market. We believe that we have a cleaner app, host dashboard and internal tools to help with the management of our homes. We want to develop more apps and tools to make it easier for ours hosts to earn more from their property.

Please note that the Company has a business loan of £3,000 and an available credit line of £100,000 used for cashflow purposes. The funds raised in this round will not be used to repay these loans.

Key Information - Round details

Please note that this campaign reflects all of the funds Airsorted have raised during this Series A funding round. £4.4m of this was invested in December 2017 and the remaining £0.7m is being invested now.

The lead investors in this round, representing £5.08m, will receive Series A Preference Shares, while other investors including via Seedrs will receive ordinary shares (so that they can qualify for EIS eligibility).

The Series A preference shares have a right to receive 1x their initial investment ahead of ordinary shareholders in the event of a liquidation, distribution of proceeds or exit. These are non participating preference shares meaning that once 1x the initial investment is paid any surplus is distributed to the ordinary shareholders on a pro-rata basis. The shares are convertible to ordinary shares: the preference share holder can choose to participate pro rata alongside ordinary shareholders (ie if this would give them a greater return than the 1x preference) OR receive their 1x preferential return.

The company has previously raised £1.15m worth of the same class of preferred shares.

As this campaign is aimed at getting our community and network to take part in the raise we want to allow as many of them to have access. As a result, we may look to scale any investments over £50k back in order to let more of our community into the round.

Market

Target market

Most of our hosts have never listed their property on Airbnb or other platforms before. They were put off by all of the requirements they needed to meet, the idea of responding to guests 24/7 as well as the cleaning and laundry they'd need to manage between each stay. At Airsorted we open up the possibility for our hosts to consider platforms like Airbnb, by taking care of everything for them.

We have a wide range of hosts who list their property with us, from Landlords (optimising their earnings with a combination of holiday stays and medium lets), to hosts who are travelling for a few months at a time for work or pleasure who want to get extra from their homes.

Characteristics of target market

Homesharing is now mainstream, even large travel players such as Expedia and Booking.com have followed Airbnb's lead and are listing homes alongside hotels.

There were 80 million Airbnb guests in 2016, with tourists and business travellers wanting a home away from home.

There are over 4 million Airbnb listings. Homeowners are recognising the value of their biggest asset.

Marketing strategy

We intend to continue our fast growth by gaining depth of coverage in our existing markets and launching new ones rapidly.

Airsorted uses a combination of out of home media to raise awareness and highly targeted online spend (paid search, paid social, display etc.) in order to find and convert our audiences. We adapt our strategy from city to city, constantly testing and learning to gain efficiency from our marketing spend.

A data driven approach to marketing ensures that key metrics are tracked and measured accurately. Customer research and constantly listening to feedback from our hosts allows us to ensure that our proposition connects with our audience well.

Competition strategy

We consider Airsorted to be the only authentically tech company in the space. From day one our focus has been on host profitability as this is the driving factor for those considering whether or not to short-let their home. We have used technology to create automated systems to streamline operations and to build client dashboards so that they can monitor their properties performance. This use of tech enabled us to charge lower commissions (from 12% + VAT) and provide better value to the customer, making us a leader in the industry.

Our focus on technology is also what will allow us to scale fast and hit our goal of being in 38 cities by the end of 2019. We aim to be a truly global service; many of our competitors are much smaller or only cover a handful of cities in comparison.

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If you successfully purchase a share lot of this business, you will be granted access.

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Investing carries risks, including loss of capital and illiquidity. Please read our Risk Warning before investing.

Investing involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends and dilution, and should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. Please read the Risk Warnings before investing. Investments should only be made by investors who understand these risks. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future.

This webpage has been approved as a financial promotion by Seedrs Limited ("Seedrs"), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It is not intended to be a promotion of any individual investment opportunity and is not an offer to the public. The summary information provided about investment opportunities on this webpage is intended solely to demonstrate the types of investments available on the Seedrs platform, and any investment decision should be made on the basis of the full campaign. Full campaigns are available to investors who have become authorised to invest on the Seedrs platform. All investment activities take place within the United Kingdom, and any person resident outside the United Kingdom should ensure that they are not subject to any local regulations before investing.

Seedrs does not make investment recommendations to you. No communications from Seedrs, through this website or any other medium, should be construed as an investment recommendation. Further, nothing on this website shall be considered an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security to any person in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. Seedrs does not provide legal, financial or tax advice of any kind. If you have any questions with respect to legal, financial or tax matters relevant to your interactions with Seedrs, you should consult a professional adviser.

Tax Relief (SEIS)

This business is eligible for SEIS relief - providing qualifying investors with income tax relief of 50% of their investment and certain other tax reliefs. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future. Click to learn more.

Tax Relief (EIS)

This business is eligible for EIS relief - providing qualifying investors with income tax relief of 30% of their investment and certain other tax reliefs. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future. Click to learn more.

Valuation (pre-money)

Valuation rounded from £26,079,487

Pitch type

There are 5 types of investment pitch available on Seedrs.

  • Equity
  • Convertible
  • Fund
  • Cohort
  • Secondary

Investing in a regular equity campaign is the simplest and most common way to invest in a startup. You decide which business you want to invest in, and if the campaign hits its funding target then you will become one of their shareholders. As the company becomes more valuable, so do your shares; allowing you the opportunity to share in the future success of the business.

Learn more about pitch type on Seedrs