Seoul-based proptech Dongnae acquires co-living platform Dears | TechCrunch

Proptech startup Dongnae stated Tuesday it plans to accumulate Stevens, a South Korean firm that operates co-living enterprise Dears.

The 2 corporations didn’t disclose the acquisition value, however Dongnae stated it should buy Stevens with a mixture of money and fairness. The Seoul-based proptech outfit beforehand raised a complete of $34 million, together with a $21 million Series A round it introduced final 12 months. Dongnae expects to shut the transaction by the tip of September. The corporate’s buyers embrace the likes of NFX, Daol Funding, Hana Monetary, MetaProp, Maple VC and WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey.

Dongnae’s major product, Dongnae FLEX, presents a furnished condo rental on its platform with versatile lease phrases for as quick a interval as 4 weeks and decrease rental deposits.

The addition of Dears will enable the corporate to improve the Dongnae FLEX service, handle properties “with a collective AUM of over $400 million,” and span 90 condo complexes throughout Seoul and Pangyo, the place a number of tech companies, together with Kakao and Naver, are positioned. Dears Pangyo has greater than 520 studio flat models in Pangyo.

The outfit additionally will co-manage the Dears Myeongdong constructing in Seoul alongside Xi S&D. Dongnae will handle industrial areas of Dears Myeongdong, consisting of B1, 14F and the rooftop, co-founder and CEO Matthew Shampine stated, including that Xi S&D will function Dears Myungdong’s 112 models that provide each short- and long-term stays.

Dongnae says that is its first acquisition. The present management group at Stevens will be part of Dongnae to assist enlargement and proceed to construct on their progress to this point, Shampine instructed TechCrunch.

“We’re in lively discussions with quite a few landlords and land builders to open extra buildings to be operated as and thru Dongnae,” Shampine stated.

Former WeWork executives Shampine and Insong Kim co-founded Dongnae in 2020 to digitize South Korea’s fragmented actual property market. In South Korea, individuals should work with dozens of brokers to discover a new residence, and there are two choices to pay lease within the nation: paying a month-to-month payment (identical to in lots of components of the world) and paying every little thing upfront, known as Jeonse.

“Since our Sequence A in March of 2022, we have now been targeted on rising our actual property portfolio, getting buyer suggestions, and constructing the mandatory front- and back-end expertise to really create a greater solution to lease properties in Korea,” Shampine stated.

The corporate has invested “closely” in enhancing the client expertise since final 12 months. The outfit says it has digitized the complete process as a substitute of the everyday lengthy, paper-filed leasing course of and launched its personal digital actual property marketing consultant Suzie by integrating synthetic intelligence into its platform. Like a chatbot, Suzie solutions potential residents’ questions on housing or Dongnae’s models in any spoken language.

“From Adam Neumann’s Flow and firms reminiscent of Mint Home, Zeus Living, and Blueground in America to Asian and European startups like Cove and Habyt — there was nice innovation within the residential rental market around the globe over the previous few years,” Shampine stated in an announcement. “Our group is dedicated to bringing about a greater solution to lease right here in Korea.”

Dongnae’s software is now accessible for obtain on Android and iOS.