Silkhaus, which carries out special studies for the short-term rental of real estate, received an investment of $7.75 million.
Silkhaus, which develops short-term real estate rental solutions, received an investment of $7.75 million. Nuwa Capital, Nordstar, Global Founders Capital, Yuj Ventures, Whiteboard Capital and VentureSouq participated in the round.
Travel habits are changing with the effect of the pandemic. While the frequency of vacation and business trips has decreased, the average duration of these trips has increased. Although platforms like Airbnb are working to meet the supply in the US and Europe, this situation looks different in emerging markets. This is where Silkhaus comes into play. It digitizes short-term rentals for owners large and small, providing a platform with essential tools for those who want to monetize and manage their properties.
The venture’s co-founders, Aahan Bhojani and Ashmin Varma, founded Silkhaus last year after identifying a $13 billion market for homeowners in emerging markets, primarily MENA, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Silkhaus CEO and founder Aahan Bhojani said, “Obviously, finding a good short-term rental service in markets like these is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We are also solving this problem. We bring together some of the most successful short-term rental operators and create the highest quality supplier of this inventory for our partners, including Airbnb. We are pushing to take quality, control and technology to the next level. We exist to enable more people to experience high-quality short-term rentals.”
Silkhaus is acquiring rental properties from landlords (currently in Dubai). It manages distribution, pricing, revenue management and full coverage from a digital perspective. The startup is building tools, including a marketplace, for third-party vendors to access these leases and manage operations.
Bhojani claims that Silkhaus is among the top 3% operators in the city in terms of units currently managed. Silkhaus estimates that the market opportunity could grow to $18 billion in the next four years. He said the proptech startup, which has increased its revenue more than 10 times in the last 12 months, plans to break into the top 1% in the next two months by increasing the supply of properties on its platform.
Source: Egirisim / Translated by Irem Yildiz