Peruvian startup Wynwood House has just closed a $7 million round between equity and debt. The round was led by Chilean firm FEN Ventures and Salvadoran firm Innogen Venture Capital.
Wynwood House is an apartment rental startup based in Peru that promises to be a hybrid between “the comfort of traveling to a friend’s house and a 5-star hotel”. Co-founded in late 2019 by Ignacio Masias, a former Mckinsey executive who comes from a family linked for generations to tourism, the Peruvian startup was able to identify a market opportunity amid the strong growth in demand for apartments on Airbnb in Latin America: there was no brand that guaranteed the quality of the spaces.
Today, Wynwood House manages more than 850 leased units (apartments leased under its brand) in four Latin American countries (Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Panama). In addition, it has quadrupled its growth in the last twelve months and has surpassed 10,000 customers per month.
The apartment rental startup plans to grow from 850 units to 2,500 units next year. The fresh funds will be used to multiply its growth fivefold and to expand beyond Latin America. Wynwood House also plans to lease units in Chile (Santiago) and Spain (Madrid) in 2023. It is also evaluating the opening of units in the U.S. (Miami) by the end of next year or in 2024.
They have also launched a B2B segment called “Casa Wynwood”, which is a mix between a boutique hotel and a clubhouse.This segment represents more than 20% of its bookings, which considers longer stays. Casa Wynwood has two units located in Mexico City (Roma Norte) and Lima (Barranco).
“We help real estate investors monetize their properties. We take care of everything: from the design of the apartments, the furnishing, all the way to the cleaning and the costumer experience. The owner of the apartment can get a return on average between 20 and 30% higher than what he would get in the traditional rental market, without having to take care of the operation”.
Ignacio Masías, CEO and cofounder Of Wynwood House
Wynwood House has managed to maintain an average occupancy rate of 80% in the last year and a half in the four countries where it operates. On the recovery of foreign tourism to pre-pandemic levels, in Mexico and Colombia a full recovery is noticeable, while in Peru they are still between 60% and 65% of 2019 levels, said Masias to Forbes.
