US: All-in-one property management system Uplisting, which is designed to help growing short-term rental businesses streamline their operations, has announced that it has secured investment from funding, community and mentorship ecosystem, Calm Company Fund.
Uplisting, an Airbnb Preferred Partner, is a SaaS platform built specifically for growing short-term rental businesses. Launched in 2017, after the co-founders met working at HouseTrip [sold to TripAdvisor], Uplisting now works with rental owners and managers across the globe, helping them to increase revenue, decrease inefficiencies, create five-star guest experiences and grow.
Up until now, Uplisting has been self-funded, operating primarily on organic growth.
Vince Breslin, co-founder and CEO of Uplisting, said: “2022 is shaping up to be the year of tech, with huge opportunities for vertical SaaS platforms to shape the future hospitality landscape and we’re excited to be a part of this. We’re incredibly proud of how far we’ve come on our own, without VC funding, relying solely on organic growth.
“Uplisting is now ready for the next phase of growth and we are pleased to announce investment from Calm to help fuel these ambitions,” he added.
How Twitter helped
Breslin said: “Twitter is a fantastic resource to find and communicate directly with like-minded people. It’s there that I met Tyler Tringas, the general partner at Calm. We’ve been chatting for a number of years — he ‘gets’ what we do and champions businesses like ours.
“Once we opened our AngelList round, I DM’d him thinking he may be interested in investing $20,000 or $30,000 into Uplisting. He had a look at our pitch deck and said he was interested, but only if he could invest $250,000+. It took just eight days from my initial tweet to signing the deal,” he added.
Tyler Tringas, general partner of Calm Company Fund, said: “The Uplisting team has a deep understanding of the short-term rental market and the needs of hosts across Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, and other platforms. At Calm Company Fund, a core area of focus is software tools that allow small businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive, grow their revenue, and run their business from anywhere on their phone or laptop.
“Uplisting is the must-have software platform for any short-term rental company or host and we are very excited to have invested,” he added.
In addition to the investment from Calm Company Fund, Uplisting has also secured $200,000 in investment from its own members via a new funding model – AngelList Roll Up Vehicle.
Over 20 per cent of Uplisting’s members have committed to investing between $1,000 and $50,000 in Uplisting via a SAFE [Simple Agreement for Future Equity] model. The company has ambitions for membership investment to grow as the business matures, with every member having the opportunity to invest on a rolling basis.
Breslin added: “We are indebted to every member who has provided investment and insight to help Uplisting continually add value. Watching our members scale their businesses up to 50x on our platform has been incredibly rewarding for our team.”
