Gunderson Dettmer represented client Kiki (formerly EasyRent), a subletting startup, in its $6 million seed financing led by Blackbird Ventures. Kiki follows an invite-only “friend of friends” model to match listers with people looking to rent for up to six months. The new financing included participation from former Airbnb exec Harry Uffindell, Facebook Marketplace founder Bowen Pan, former Bumble exec Michelle Battersby, former Canva exec and founder of Phase One Ventures Mahesh Muralidhar and ex-Uber execs Tyler Trerotola and Jaikumar Ganesh. The new capital will be used to relaunch in New York this fall.

In the announcement of the transaction, Kiki’s founder Thomas-Smith said, “I was working for Airbnb cleaning toilets and discovered this whole short-term rental market. I learned that these properties were making all their profit over the summer, and then they would lose money over the winter. [I was] like, ‘How are these places sitting empty for almost half a year?’ It seemed crazy to me.”

The Gunderson Dettmer deal team included Mike Allers, Hannah Porter, Maddy Vella and Kian Khajooei.

Companies
KiKi
Blackbird Ventures