Fresh Funding Rounds for Cosi and Brickbro

Short-term here for the long haul?

It was only back in November that we reported on the shuttering of short term rental startup Lyric which went to the wall after a disastrous pandemic-hit 2020. However, it now seems that short term rentals might be making a comeback - in Europe at least -  with the news that Berlin-based short term rentals platform Cosi has received a fresh round of financial backing to the tune of €20 million.

Coming from Austrian development company Soravia as well as VC firms Cherry Ventures, e.ventures, Kreos Capital and Bremke, the round is destined to be used to kickstart Cosi's expansion in Europe as well as to create a new business unit and a new brand according to CEO and serial entrepreneur Christian Gaiser.

Gaiser, who is also the man behind the shopping platform Bonial.com which was acquired by Axel Springer in 2011, is following in the ambitious footsteps of fellow short-term rental specialist Spotahome which also recently took the plunge in launching its offering in three new cities after pandemic setbacks were followed by a surge in demand from digital nomads.

Speaking to Techcrunch the German CEO said, “Now is exactly the right timing to double down on Cosi’s growth from a long-term perspective. When everyone is scared / shocked, you can win big if you have a clear plan."

Brickbro gets backing to speed up Spanish commercial property transactions

Also celebrating a fresh funding round this week is the Spanish proptech startup Brickbro which received a €1 million capital injection round led by Telegraph Hill Capital and participated in by the silicon valley fund Plug and Play which has previously backed companies such as PayPal and Dropbox.

Founded two years ago, Brickbro allows commercial property owners to get an instant offer for their property by using a proprietary algorithm that promises to simplify property transactions. The rise of e-commerce in the country has lead to a surge of small business owners needing to sell their premises quickly which in turn has seen Brickbro's growth accelerate since the beginning of the pandemic.

Speaking to idealista News, CEO Guillermo Preckler said that the fresh funding will help his company expand beyond its Barcelona headquarters to all regions of Spain and perhaps to Portugal as well.