Technology
Furnished rental startup Blueground defies proptech woes with revenue of $560 million, a new raise of $45 million

Alex Chatzieleftheriou founded Blueground in 2013 after being frustrated by the shortage of short-term furnished housing in Europe. He traveled as a McKinsey consultant and lived almost exclusively in hotel rooms for months.
“Once, a company needed to pay as much as €15,000 for a hotel room in Amsterdam. And there wasn’t enough space or kitchen to cook,” he said. “I attempted renting apartments for a month or longer. However, it was difficult and the owners weren’t open to purchasing furniture. So I created a company that solved my problem.
Just a few years later, at the peak of the pandemic, business in his startup’s category of short-term furnished apartment rental firms was booming as people roamed the world working from home.
Now that many employers have called staff back to offices, demand for temporary housing has dropped.
Some of his competitors didn’t survive. Life of Zeus AND Hike they locked the door and returned the keys. Some became acquisition opportunities for Blueground. In 2022, the corporate gained a strong position in Latin America, including: I purchase Tabas, operator of over 9,000 furnished apartments in Brazil. Within a few months, Blueground took over Travelers’ haven, a 15-year-old company that gives on-demand housing to staff in nearly 20,000 cities across the United States. In 2023, it acquired Nestpick, a marketplace for furnished apartment operators corresponding to Kasa and Placemakr, providing customers with access to additional 18,000 apartments.
Blueground currently operates a global network of move-in ready homes for stays of a month or longer and has raised $45 million in Series D funding from new investor Susquehanna Private Equity Investments along with other backers including WestCap, Chatzieleftheriou told TechCrunch. The New York-based company said it also secured a debt facility from Barclays with participation from Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and HSBC, which replaced and augmented Blueground’s $40 million debt facility obtained from Silicon Valley Bank in 2021.
Blueground rents apartments in popular neighborhoods after which furnishes and furnishes them to tenants. Currently, the corporate manages 15,000 apartments in 32 markets in 17 countries. In addition to stepping into its own leases, Blueground recently introduced franchising, which works with local operators in Japan and Thailand and lists units of third-party operators on its platform.
The company didn’t disclose a new valuation, but Chatzieleftheriou said the corporate’s value has increased because the previous round. This the valuation was reportedly $750 million After raising $140 million in Series C in September 2021.
It’s no secret that the fundraising environment has been extremely difficult for late-stage firms, especially those within the proptech sector, which is struggling with rising rates of interest.
Chatzieleftheriou told TechCrunch that his company’s rapid growth and near-profitability helped persuade investors to commit to the newest financing.
Chatzieleftheriou said sales increased 70% to $560 million in 2023, compared with $300 million in gross revenue in 2022. Net margin on sales – that’s, after paying landlords for rent – is around 35%, he added, and he expects that Blueground might be money flow positive in 2024.
While further acquisitions seem likely given Chatzieleftheriou’s predictions of industry consolidation, the immediate focus is to integrate recent purchases. The new financing might be used for market expansion, technology investments and maybe the last word financial goal: an initial public offering.
Technology
Former President Barack Obama weighs Human Touch vs. And for coding

Former President Barack Obama spoke in regards to the way forward for human jobs because he feels artificial intelligence (AI) exceeding people’s coding efforts, reports.
By participating within the Sacerdote Great Names series at Hamilton College in CLinton, New York, the previous president of America, he talked about what number of roles will probably be potentially eliminated – and so they aren’t any longer mandatory – on account of the effectiveness of AI, claiming that the software encodes 60% to 70% higher than people.
“Already current models of artificial intelligence, not necessarily those you buy or just go through retail chatgpt, but more advanced models that are now available to companies can cod better than let’s call it 60%, 70% programmers now,” said former president Hamilton Steven Teper.
“We are talking about high qualified places that pay really good salaries and that until recently they were completely the market for the vendor within the Silicon Valley. Many of those works will disappear. The best programmers will have the ability to make use of these tools to expand what they’re already doing, but within the case of many routine things, you’ll simply not need a code, since the computer or machine will do the identical.
Obama isn’t the one celebrity that slowly emphasized the importance of AI, but for sure. Through the Coramino Fund, investment cooperation between comedian Kevin Hart and Juan Domingo Beckmann Gran Coramino Tequila, entrepreneurs and small firms from the community insufficiently confirmed It was encouraged to submit an application for a subsidy program of USD 10,000. While applications for the primary round closed on April 23, 50 firms will receive not only capital to the extension, but additionally receive “the latest AI technological training and practical learning of responsible and effective inclusion in their operations”, in response to.
Hart claims that business owners must jump on opportunities and education.
“The train is coming and fast,” he said. “Either you are on it or if not, get off the road.”
Data and research also support Hart and Obama points of view, and colourful people may be probably the most affecting this because they change into more popular within the workplace. After reviewing the info from the American census, scientists from Julian Samora Institute from Michigan State University stated that Latynoskie firms reported almost 9% of AI adoption, and Asian firms used about 11%. Almost 78% of Białe firms have reported high technology.
Black own firms He handled the last, with the bottom use of artificial intelligence all over the world in 2023, with a smaller number than 2% of firms reporting “high use”.
A report of scientists from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) revealed that Latinx AI employees are exposed to loss of labor on account of automation and increased use of technology, which performs repetitive tasks without human involvement.
Data from the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility indicate that the division of AI can broaden the gap in racial wealth by $ 43 million a yr.
(Tagstranslatate) artificial intelligence
Technology
Musk’s XAI Holdings reportedly collects the second largest private round of financing

Elon Musk’s Xai Holdings talks about gathering $ 20 billion for fresh funds, potentially valuing the combination of AI and social media at over $ 120 billion, in accordance with A New Bloomberg report This says that the talks are at “early stages”. If it succeeds, the contract can be the second largest round of financing startups in history, only with an OPENAI increase in the amount of $ 40 billion last month.
Financing may help alleviate the significant burden of X debt, which costs an organization price $ 200 million monthly, for Bloomberg sources, with annual interest costs exceeding $ 1.3 billion by the end of last yr.
The increase on this size would also show the constant attractiveness of AI investor, and likewise reflects the surprising appearance of Musk as a player of political power in the White House of President Trump.
Musk will probably get from some of the same supporters who consistently financed their ventures, from Tesla to SpaceX, including Antonio Gracias from Valor Equity Partners and Luke Nosek from Gigafund. Gracias even took the role lieutenant In the Musk government department.
Xai didn’t answer immediately.
(Tagstransate) Elon Musk (T) XAI Holdings
Technology
Leap Hee launches the 1-to-in-innd-second-mobile application, giving home owners better access to equity

Fintech Real Estate Investment Company Leap AnalyticsAlso often known as Leap Hee, he announced the launch of a brand new and progressive mobile application designed to revolutionize the access of home owners and home equity management,
The application allows users to apply for 3 several types of capital capital contracts (Heas) directly on the phone, providing a wealth of comprehensive housing resources. The general director and founding father of Leap, Ashley Bete, claims that the recent application helps home owners make smarter financial decisions without connecting.
“Our new mobile application revolutionizes how home owners gain access to home owners and use their own capital,” said Bete. “By offering three types of hea at your fingertips, together with a package of tools related to the apartment, we authorize home owners to make very informed financial decisions, while releasing the capital potential of their most valuable assets.”
In addition to having Hea-Zarówno in 10-year contracts, in addition to 30-year contracts-at your fingertips, the functions of application supporting the travel of home owners include access to the financial library, financial analyzes and tools, similar to Simulator Improvement Simulators, similar to the Improvement Improvement simulator.
While the purpose of the application is to solve significant problems on the housing market, similar to the effects of redlining and gentrification, Bete said that it’s also consistent with the company’s mission involving the education of home owners in the scope of fixing real estate industry, while ensuring tools for extracting capital from homes, reduction of debt and increasing the renewal of monetary faith. “The LEAP application is a significant progress in the Leap mission to close the gaps in the field of wealth and apartments, and at the same time promoting financial health through innovative household solutions,” he said.
The mission can also be consistent with the findings of how American house owners have been blocked before billions in their very own capital, without even knowing it. AND Recent studies conducted by Home Equity Investment Company Point showed that home owners The risk is blocked before access to $ 731 billion in their very own capitalwhich many depend on, due to a decrease in the resulting credit scoring Loss of labor, according to.
In 2024, the total American domestic capital reached USD 34.7 trillion, which is a rise of 80% since 2020. However, a big a part of this housing wealth stays “closed”.
Applicant Leap Juune Lucero from California said that he would “recommend Leap” after the designation of the company’s home capital contracts as a wonderful alternative to expensive options.
“They helped me and my family to improve our personal finances,” said Lucero. The Munashe Shumba technology director shared similar moods, adding that the application “helps property owners intelligently manage homes and increase their value” with recommendations based on data on “necessary services”.
Download the LEAP mobile application on iOS and Android platforms.
(Tagstranslate) FINTECH (T) Home Equity (T) Leap Hea (T) ASHLEY BETE (T) Leap Analytics (T) Mobile application
-
Press Release1 year ago
U.S.-Africa Chamber of Commerce Appoints Robert Alexander of 360WiseMedia as Board Director
-
Press Release1 year ago
CEO of 360WiSE Launches Mentorship Program in Overtown Miami FL
-
Business and Finance11 months ago
The Importance of Owning Your Distribution Media Platform
-
Business and Finance1 year ago
360Wise Media and McDonald’s NY Tri-State Owner Operators Celebrate Success of “Faces of Black History” Campaign with Over 2 Million Event Visits
-
Ben Crump1 year ago
Another lawsuit accuses Google of bias against Black minority employees
-
Theater1 year ago
Telling the story of the Apollo Theater
-
Ben Crump1 year ago
Henrietta Lacks’ family members reach an agreement after her cells undergo advanced medical tests
-
Ben Crump1 year ago
The families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright hold an emotional press conference in Minneapolis
-
Theater1 year ago
Applications open for the 2020-2021 Soul Producing National Black Theater residency – Black Theater Matters
-
Theater11 months ago
Cultural icon Apollo Theater sets new goals on the occasion of its 85th anniversary