French entrepreneur Aziza Chaouachi was a broke student studying to become a lawyer when she first tried to rent out her Paris apartment for the weekend. She said there was no room for her on Airbnb.
“I went on Airbnb but my apartment was too crappy for Airbnb’s concierge service and I was coming too last minute with no way to hand over the keys,” Chaouachi explains.
“Friends took care of it at the end and that’s how the community started. I was the first member of Leavy.co.
Two years ago, Chaouachi launched Leavy, which announced a $ 14 million funding round led by Main companies Tuesday, to expand the reach of the short-term online apartment rentals popularized by Airbnb.
The model is slightly different from its biggest American rival. With Leavy, guests receive a predefined amount of money when handing over their keys, whether or not someone is staying. It’s usually a little less than Airbnb, but with fewer admins and guaranteed.
For renters, Leavy Apartments are generally a bit cheaper than Airbnb and the focus is on community for travelers. Members of the Leavy online community can earn money by tending to listed homes and showing guests their city.
The startup is an example of how Europe offers its own tweaks to models that have developed outside of the United States. The region may be ripe for alternatives as the mayors of From London to Paris and Barcelona toughen the rules where technology is changing the way people live, move around cities and spend money.
“We sat down with some friends and talked about how we were broke but still wanted to travel and how we might fix this,” Chaouachi said. “The target is people who want to travel but can’t afford it, with a strong community to help solve this equation. “
This idea first developed in a WhatsApp group of locals helping each other to rent their apartment for extra money to travel. It is now an app and community of 65,000 members, with apartments in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Madrid and Rome.
Chaouachi said she is working on the next funding round and the company plans to expand into the United States by the end of this year in cities like New York.
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