US: Los Angeles-based premier next-generation hospitality platform AvantStay has appointed Ankur Jain as its new chief financial officer [CFO], as it continues to bolster its senior team.
Jain joins AvantStay as a seasoned finance and startup executive with more than a decade in the real estate sector.
He previously served as CFO at Better Place Forests [BPF] and real estate technology firm Mynd, and as vice president of finance of Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust [now Invitation Homes], where he took the company public. Invitation Homes is the largest single family residential REIT in the world.
In his new role, Jain will be tasked with leading the company’s finance team across accounting, financial planning, strategic finance and finance operations to drive sustained growth and profitability.
He will also join the AvantStay executive team alongside CEO Sean Breuner, COO David Katcher [formerly global head of operations at ride-sharing platform Lyft, who joined the company four months ago] and former Invitation Homes CEO Fred Tuomi.
At Mynd, Jain raised multiple financing rounds, led the development of its in-house accounting system, and advised on acquisitions of regional property managers, helping it to become one of the largest tech-enabled single family residential property management company in the country with more than 10,000 homes.
The newly appointed CFO previously took Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust public in 2014 and raised more than $1.5 billion in debt and equity capital to accelerate the company’s growth from 4,000 to over 20,000 homes in two years.
Founded in 2017, AvantStay currently operates in more than 100 cities with over 1500 properties in its diversified portfolio, having secured $500 million in a PropCo funding round led by real estate advisory and asset management firm, Saluda Grade, in February.
In July, AvantStay announced a round of redundancies as part of a “gradual reorganisation” of the company. It is believed that 43 “job reductions” were made although new hirings are still continuing to take place.
