Short-term rental startup Frontdesk Inc. has raised $13 million in venture capital, bringing its total equity financing amount to $22 million, the Milwaukee company announced Tuesday.
Among its latest investors is JetBlue Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of JetBlue Airways.
The $13 million Series B round includes the $7 million Frontdesk announced last year led by San Francisco's Stormbreaker Ventures. Other investors in the round include Veritas Innovations in San Francisco, Chicago's Motivate Venture Capital and "several strategic investors," the announcement stated.
Frontdesk's funding announcement comes two weeks after it named Jesse DePinto as its new CEO. DePinto, a co-founder who previously served as the startup's chief product officer, replaces co-founder Kyle Weatherly as the top executive.
DePinto said he's taking the helm to execute phase two of the company's "land and expand strategy," which will involve providing Frontdesk-branded property management for entire apartment buildings instead of just individual units within buildings, he said.
"We're going to start building up, not out," DePinto said.
Since its founding in 2017, Frontdesk has established more than 1,000 short-term rental units across more than 150 different buildings in upwards of 30 U.S. markets, including Milwaukee.
As part of its growth strategy, Frontdesk is looking to acquire more units within its existing buildings and new buildings it would manage entirely, DePinto said. For instance, the company took over a building in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, called Lakeview Green and is operating it under the Frontdesk brand, he said.
"As we start to show our track record to these property owners and to the guests, we see there's more opportunity to create one unified experience," DePinto said.
The experience Frontdesk seeks to create is one that combines the predictable perks of a hotel experience with the convenient comforts of home, he said.
In Milwaukee, one of Frontdesk's property-owner partners is New Land Enterprises, the developer behind local projects including the new Ascent tower in downtown Milwaukee, DePinto said.
Frontdesk recently made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies for the second consecutive year, reporting 675% revenue growth between 2018 and 2021. To make that list, it needed at least $100,000 in revenue in 2018 and $2 million in 2021.
The startup has more than 300 employees around the country. Given that most local employees weren't coming into the office, it's leaving its Farwell Avenue office on Milwaukee's east side at the end of the month and moving into the Regus co-working space downtown, DePinto said.
