In recent months, we have been looking for success stories from Southeast Europe. Most of them are still in preparation, but from time to time, we meet hidden gems like Blue ground – A Greek real estate company which recently announced an investment round of $ 20 million in the United States.
BlueGROUND is a technological startup that rents apartments in central locations and improves them in fully furnished houses adapted to travelers and business expatriates.
Home during the road
The company was founded in 2013 by Alex Chatzielefttheriou who, before BlueGround, worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company. During his career, Chatzieriou spent a lot of time on the road and was often frustrated by the rental of apartments.
“I lived in 15 cities in 14 different countries, so I can tell you from personal experience that the rental of an apartment can be tedious. The then made the need for a comfortable and private atmosphere which includes complete cooking to eat healthy and an additional living space to relax or socialize, ”explains Chatzieleftheriou. This is how he had the idea of BlueGround – a place where you can feel at home from the first day.
BlueGround seeks to solve many of the hassles that expatriates and business travelers experience, including a lot of paperwork, the time spent finding the right location and the right cost of supplying a new space. The minimum stay in a BlueGround location is 30 days with the possibility of extending it up to a year or more.
Rental for travelers and business expatriates
As a rule, the company joins forces with real estate developers and rents many apartments before starting the market. Then they provide them and were equivalent to holding them for many years. BlueGround guarantees 100% occupation of owners by signing long -term leases with higher yield and a constant cash flow flow.
“For developers, we are really an ideal tenant: we take several apartments while treating all maintenance problems professionally and we make a rent in time,” the founder told trendy subjects.
Airbnb is not a competitor
According to Alex Chatzielefttheriou and his team, BlueGROUND has a completely different offer from Airbnb and other competitors in the real estate and hotel industry. Unlike Marketplace models, BlueGround provides the maintenance and management of the installations of its lists. It is similar to a large vacation rental manager who develops his own software. “We are developing innovative financing solutions for owners, guaranteeing the maximization of their return on goods. We focus on the technology developed internally to rationalize end -to -end operations. Adds Chatzielefttheriou.
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BlueGROUND’s internal technology automates procedures and provides transparent experience to the tenant. A online reservation and payment platform, an invited mobile application that covers all interactions with tenants as well as a multi-aspect operating system improves internal efficiency. Compared to hotels, Chatzielefttheriou says that the service is cheaper and more suited to long -term rent.
From Athens to New York
BlueGROUND was founded in 2013 in Athens. The same year, he publicly announced the funding collection of approximately $ 7.5 million from various providential investors, including Apostolos Apostolakis, currently a partner of Venturefriends, the National Bank of Greece and investment companies. After the last investment round announced in March 2019, the funding company exceeds $ 28 million during an uncompromising assessment. One of the most eminent investors of his board of directors is the New York -based entrepreneur, Kevin Ryan, founder of Business Insider and Mongodb.
Over the past three years, the company has tripled its annual turnover. “To move forward in 2019, our goal is to further strengthen this momentum of growth and quadruple,” adds Chatzieleftheriou. According to him, in most cities, BlueGround operates, the occupancy rate is around 95%.
Rigorous extension
It took five years to the founder and his team to develop in nine cities on three continents. Currently, they rent more than 1,800 apartments in New York, San Francisco, Dubai, Istanbul, Athens and more. “We started in Europe and the Middle East, but we quickly widened in the United States, because the need for fully furnished apartments is obvious on this market. We are going to launch in new cities in the United States and Europe, ”explains Chatzieriou.
The BlueGround team carefully chooses its destinations. The most important criteria are the size of the rental market. In addition, they consider the demand for furnished apartments, competition, the availability of quality apartments and the importance of the city as a business center.
With its new capital, the company plans to extend its operations in existing locations and to open new markets. A piece of money will be invested in technology and the improvement of products aimed at improving the experience of owners and customers. The team’s objective is to reach 50 cities and 50,000 apartments by 2023. Currently, the company has 300 employees worldwide and field teams in each city.