The word on the street is that Sonder — the marketplace for vacation rentals and competitor to Airbnb — is close to finalizing a $200 million investment round that would value the company at $1 billion. I first wrote about Sonder back in 2016 after… Read More
Fred Wilson made an interesting remark in his recent post about the current “IPO bonanza” that is taking place in the tech space. He is, of course, talking about the recent IPO of Lyft, the recent S-1 filings from Pinterest and others, and the expected… Read More
At the beginning of this year, the City of New York filed this lawsuit in an attempt to shut down an Airbnb business that has supposedly generated around $20 million in revenue since 2012. It is currently illegal to rent out an apartment in most… Read More
Airbnb has just announced a new initiative called Backyard, where it will be looking at new ways in which homes can be designed, built, and shared. They are, in a broad sense, becoming architects. The initiative has been in the prototyping phase for some time… Read More
Fred Wilson published a good post last weekend on the proposed bill that went to New York City Council this week regarding new reporting requirements for Airbnb and their hosts in NYC. You can read more about his position on his blog, but he is… Read More
This week it was announced that the very first condo building in Toronto (and in Canada) has just signed on to Airbnb’s Friendly Buildings Program. The agreement will take effect on November 1, 2017. As the name suggests, the program is about bringing greater legitimacy… Read More
I just discovered an interesting new Seattle-based startup called Loftium. The way it works is that they provide down payment assistance (up to $50,000) to prospective homeowners as long as they commit to renting out one of the home’s bedrooms on Airbnb for 12 to… Read More
I’m on an American Airlines flight right now reading the New Yorker. I’m thankful that I brought a few back issues with me because it’s distracting me from the semi-deplorable conditions found in the rear of the plane. The TV in front of me is… Read More
Merry Christmas everyone! And, thank you all for reading this past year. I just checked into an Airbnb in Mont-Tremblant, Québec and will be spending the next few days here with family and friends. I’ve also brought along some of my favorite wines (see above) and,… Read More
I just discovered an interesting Dallas-based startup this morning called TOOR. They were on Shark Tank and haven’t yet launched their product, but it’s essentially a connected lockbox. Lockboxes are a mainstay of the residential real estate industry (they hold the keys so that co-operating… Read More
