Property technology newcomer YourWelcome raises £400k with a valuation of £2m

Capitalising on the burgeoning sharing economy, YourWelcome, started in 2015 by two thirtysomething friends and part-time Airbnb hosts, has netted £400k in outside funding. The ‘property tech’ firm was launched last year to enable the UK’s fifty thousand AirBnB hosts to offer value-add services such as taxis, takeaways or discounted shows to their guests via their proprietary tablet and software solution.

According to Airbnb, 52,500 hosts shared their homes in the UK in the past year, and over 80% of guests choose to use Airbnb over a hotel as they prefer to ‘live like a local’. These guests spend an average £1231 during their stays on local services – presenting a huge untapped market for targetted offers. YourWelcome enables Airbnb hosts to share in the revenue from up-selling these on-demand services, bringing a new revenue stream to the short term let ecosystem.

The brainchild of seasoned entrepreneurs Henry Bennett and Paul Loram, YourWelcome works on a subscription basis, and expects to be in a thousand short term let properties by April 2016. Having graduated from the property tech accelerator Pi Labs’ against a pre-seed round of just £30k the company is going from strength to strength.

The service works by enabling Airbnb guests to have a truly ‘at home’ experience, with personalised YourWelcome tablets left out for guests along with the keys to the property, allowing them to access services from trusted, premium providers such as, Addison Lee.

The service enables hosts to monetise the recommendations they leave for guests as they are paid a percentage of revenue made from each on-demand booking. In addition, the YourWelcome tablets learn through guest usage, giving hosts a unique insight into why guests are booking their property and what services they want during their stay allowing them to optimise their listings.

The guests currently using the service are averaging an hour’s usage time of YourWelcome.

Henry Bennett, Co-Founder said: “As occasional Airbnb hosts ourselves, we knew there had to be a way to simplify the way hosts communicate with guests, especially if they are unable to greet them in person. We also thought there should be a way for the hosts to monetise their guests through offering high quality on-demand services.”

YourWelcome already has corporate deals in place with global serviced apartment company Skyline and numerous Airbnb Management companies including Easy Rental Services, and this year is branching out into Paris and into the longer-term student and wider property market.

Aurelie Ruiz, Founder of Easy Rental Services, a leading Airbnb management company using YourWelcome commented:

“Our guests are pleasantly surprised when they discover the tablet and everything they can do with it! This has improved our service and the guests’ experience which helps us to have good reviews!”

With £1m of funding offered on their Pi Labs Demo day leading to being seven times oversubscribed for their £400k round, the future is looking bright for this property duo.

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