Starwood, Fifth Wall Invest In Luxury Vacation Rental Startup's $50M Series B
Just four years after launching with three houses to rent out to travelers, luxury short-term rental startup Wander has closed on a $50M venture capital investment from some of the biggest names in real estate.
The funding round was co-led by Fifth Wall and QED Investors with participation from Starwood Capital Group, Breyer Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Uncork. It more than doubled Wander's $20M Series A round it raised in 2022.
Wander plans to use the new capital to invest further in its AI operating system for logistics and guest management, WanderOS. The company is on track to automate 95% of its operational tasks within the next 18 months, according to its press release.
The startup also closed a $100M credit facility with Credit Suisse in 2022, which it used to fund its U.S. expansion.
“In just one year, the company has signed over 1,000 homes and looks to continue adding coverage to the map,” Chuckie Reddy, partner at QED Investors, said in a statement. “WanderOS has enabled this tremendous growth while making the process for owners to onboard to Wander seamless.”
Wander targets the top 5% of properties in North America, which it says is a $35B market and already drives 30% of the short-term rental industry's revenue.
“The short-term rental market represents a massive and under-optimized asset class, and Wander is uniquely positioned to lead it into its next chapter,” Dan Wenhold, a partner at Fifth Wall, said in a statement.
Travelers are increasingly looking for luxury experiences when it comes to short-term rental stays, with high earners shifting away from hotels and towards high-end short-term rentals, Business Insider previously reported.
