Last week, Boston-based rental platform SplitSpot announced the completion of its $2M seed round. Led by York IE and One Way Ventures, with additional support from PJC, SplitSpot intends to use capital from this round to maintain its rapid pace of growth. Founded in 2019, Splitspot has seen 3x YoY growth for the last 24 months and has quickly become Boston’s largest online room-rental platform. Moving forward the company seeks to expand operations to other cities beyond Boston while simultaneously investing in its technology as well as internal operations.
Why This Transaction?
The York IE team chose this as our transaction of the week to discuss how we believe SplitSpot is the answer to the overly complicated rental market/process. Through personal experience, co-founders Ernesto Ghaxa and David Mazza recognized the challenges and inefficiencies currently plaguing the rental market; high costs, hidden fees and a lack of flexibility made many apartments inaccessible to renters looking for a place to live. SplitSpot was created to simplify the renting process for both tenants and landlords by creating flexible lease arrangements, reducing upfront costs and producing an affordable solution for long-term renters. By creating flexible lease terms, SplitSpot has become popular with renters throughout Boston; additionally, landlords see value in the platform because it enables lower management and placement costs while increasing rental income and decreasing vacancy rates. As renters now demand more flexibility and transparency throughout the entire rental process, we believe platform companies such as SplitSpot will be able to address these changing needs efficiently and effectively.
Growth Hack Your Startup
As investors, there are many different metrics for valuing a startup; one of the more difficult things to do is determine the work ethic and commitment of a founder/team. At York IE we were happy to see the ingenuity and determination from SplitSpot’s co-founders as they successfully “growth hacked” their platform after launching in 2019. Ernesto and David put in the leg work in the early days of SplitSpot and their commitment has paid dividends; SplitSpot experienced 3x growth since their launch and now holds the title of the largest rental platform in Boston. As founders, this type of commitment and hustle is not only key to growth but also allows investors to see your passion and drive.
