Technology platform Lavanda, which enables real estate portfolios to profit legitimately from Airbnb-style homestays and homesharing, has secured a $5 million Series-A round led by Henley Ventures, the venture arm of global private equity real estate investor Henley Investments.
The investment sees Justin Meissel, Henley CIO and MD Europe, joining Lavanda’s board where he will sit alongside Harry Hill, founder of Rightmove, as non-executive director.
Lavanda’s software-as-a-service platform provides residential landlords and asset managers with a comprehensive toolkit to enable them to execute high-yielding, hospitality-led short and medium term rental strategies uniformly across both domestic and international portfolios.
There are currently over 10,000 units managed on the Lavanda platform and customers include some of the world’s best known real estate portfolios and managers – including JLL, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Savills, LaSalle, Long Harbour and Europa Capital.
The deal represents Henley’s sixth venture investment in the last 18 months as the group continues to broaden its investment platform.
Justin Meissel, Henley CIO commented:
”Lavanda legitimises and institutionalises short and medium-term rental options for commercial landlords, providing a best-in-class technological solution. As owners, operators and developers of over 10,000 residential units, Henley have first-hand exposure to the income uplift potential driven by Lavanda’s model. Henley Ventures is pleased to be supporting Lavanda and their top notch team as their business goes global.
Guy Westlake, founder of Lavanda added:
”Traditional hospitality, travel and real estate industries are converging fast. By providing landlords and developers with the missing technology toolkit to harness this global trend, Lavanda unlocks a new wave of innovation for residential real estate.
Partnership with Henley and their investment into the business enables us to take a major step towards realising our vision; to become the de facto technology platform powering a compliant global short and medium-term rental ecosystem.
18th September 2019
Article by: Alara Basal
Read the original full article at UKTN, Leeds Tech News