2/1/2018 – Luxstay, a rental sharing startup in Vietnam has recently raised US$3 million in a bridge round from CyberAgent Ventures, Y1 Ventures and several other investors.
CyberAgent Ventures, a large investment fund from Japan which has operations in the United States and various Asian countries, helped facilitate the bridge round and the startup’s internal structuring exercise.
This is the second time the Japanese venture capital firm invested in Luxstay, after its first investment in early 2018. So far, CyberAgent Ventures has backed more than 25 startups in the internet, technology segment including big names like Foody, Tiki, VNG, and Topica.
CyberAgent Ventures’ investment director Nguyen Manh Dzung explained, “Sharing economy is an inevitable movement in many business, and it will affect the tourism and real estate markets. We believe that this business model, like Luxstay, is working as intended and can be a game-changer in its market in the near future.”
Nguyen also shared that the home-sharing model Luxstay is supporting will grow quickly as it brings a great source of income to homeowners and also takes advantage of the available properties. This model will contribute to the development of the real estate industry and boost the tourism industry.
Founded in 2016 by Vietnamese entrepreneur Steven Nguyen Van Dung, Luxstay is an online platform that connects homeowners looking for short-term rentals with tourists or business travelers. The platform currently claims to have a network of 10,000 properties in the country.
Luxstay’s founder Steven Nguyen commented, “There are millions of accommodations in Vietnam, from townhouses to resort villas, that may be willing to participate in the short-term accommodation market. We are aiming to reach at least a few hundreds of thousands of properties joining the Luxstay platform in the next 5 years.”
Receiving support from investors, Luxstay will continue to expand its market share, launch new services and products within its ecosystem.
In addition, the rental sharing startup also has plans for finding next investors and mobilizing the next rounds (Series A) in the middle of 2019 with scale exceeding US$10 million.
Previously, the startup attracted investment from Vietnam-based fund ESP Capital and Genesia Ventures in its initial round. Genesia Venture then led a US$2.5 million pre-Series A investment in the Airbnb-like startup, before CyberAgent Ventures injected an undisclosed amount in the firm.
In September 2018, Luxstay and Japan’s Rakuten LIFULL STAY have entered into a partnership in the vacation rental business as part of their expansion plans.
According to the agreement, Rakuten LIFULL STAY will provide its inventory of the Japanese vacation rental properties listed on its site ‘Vacation STAY’ to Luxstay, and vice versa. The partners will also collaborate on marketing activities aimed at tourists from both the countries.
