Bob W, a luxury short-term apartment rental marketplace, received €40 million ($43 million) in Series B investment.
Bob W, founded in Finland in 2018, offers 3,000 “aparthotels” for rent in 17 European cities, including Amsterdam, Athens, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Helsinki.
Airbnb, Booking.com, and other incumbents have long operated in Bob W’s area. But there is an insatiable hunger for variants on the accommodation marketplace idea, including hybrid models that combine apartment perks with hotel lifestyles.
‘Best of both worlds’
The name Bob W comes from this idea, which means “best of both worlds.” Bob W calls itself a “full-stack hospitality operator and brand,” unlike Airbnb, which lets anybody sell a room or property. This means it administers and runs the units via lease and management agreements and handles the whole experience, using technology to reduce personnel overheads.
Bob W co-founder and CEO Niko Karstikko told Eltrys, “Our technology enables us to scale like no other—we recently launched two properties in Amsterdam, totaling over 150 apartments in the city, with just four employees.” “Compared to hotels, the staff is a small fraction.”
Bob W uses the “internet of things” (IoT) to remotely manage properties and monitor temperature, humidity, and noise with decibel detection sensors, in addition to applications for visitors, cleaners, and operations.
App users get codes to visit the property, and an in-app helper (named “Bob W”) may handle difficulties remotely. In addition, Bob W offers a “full-service digital marketplace” that links visitors with local companies like bike rentals and gyms and may customize a package based on the guest’s profile and platform activity.
“Our full-stack technology allows us to run a lovable full-service hospitality offering with significantly fewer on-site employees, at a practical ‘autonomous hospitality’ level,” Karstikko said.
Bob W’s preference for commercial properties over residential ones also shields him from the expanding number of restrictions aimed at reducing the negative effects of short-term holiday rentals on local communities.
Karstikko stated that short-term rental restrictions focus on residential flats. “We operate business-use multi-unit assets in hotel-like settings. As we constantly follow local laws and regulations, we avoid the hazards of hosting in residential apartments.”
Other hybrid players include Spain’s Ukio and the U.S.’s Overmoon. Each platform has a distinct value offer and target demographic, but the principle is the same: a lovely place to stay with flexible terms that’s neither a hotel nor an apartment.
Bob W accepts visits from a few nights to many months since there is no “ideal” length. Karstikko claims more than half of its clients are individuals, but 40% are B2B bookings where a firm hires an apartment for work visits or temporary housing for moving personnel.
«Our usual B2B clients are next-gen IT scale-ups, startups, or creative industries,» Karstikko stated.
Suite earnings
Perhaps most intriguing about the six-year-old firm are its growth numbers. Karstikko boasts eight-fold sales growth in 2022 and quadrupled growth in 2023, and it’s profitable.
Eight of our 10 markets (countries) were already very successful, with all markets profitable despite a three-times sales increase in 2023, Karstikko stated.
Bob W has raised €31 million, and with €40 million in the bank, the firm is well-financed to grow into other European cities and maybe beyond.
“We continue entering new strategic markets within urban centers across Europe, with our most recent launches in Copenhagen and Amsterdam,” Karstikko added. “We are also expanding into existing markets. Our present concentration is Europe, but we will eventually move beyond it.”
Evli Growth led Bob W’s Series B round, which included Flashpoint, Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoja, and Taavet+Sten, the 2021 investment vehicle founded by Wise and Teleport co-founders.
