Singapore's Casa Mia Gains Stragetic Funding for Expansion

Singapore-headquartered Casa Mia Coliving announced the successful completion of its seed round financing, raising US$1.3 million from real estate and private equity veterans. The funds raised will be used to expand its local and regional footprint, and enhance the functionality of ColivHQ, Asia’s first dedicated property management software for the coliving industry.

While real estate remains an attractive investment for institutional investors, the coliving sector is one of the fastest growing in this asset class, thanks to high transaction volumes and strong returns, bolstered by the sector’s increasing maturity. According to JLL, global funding in the coliving space increased by more than 210 percent annually between 2015 – 2019, totalling more than US$3.2 billion.

Demand for coliving is anticipated to remain high due to evolving global demographics and urbanisation trends. Expatriate gig workers– young professionals seeking international experiences early on in their careers – and digital nomads have become mainstream; they prefer arrangements in accessible locations that offer affordable costs of living, favourable amenities, and communities of like-minded individuals.

Casa Mia Coliving currently has an average stay of 15.5 months per member, the highest in Singapore. The company uses an analytics tool designed by psychologists to screen potential members and recommend suitable homes based on their profiles. It also organises community “rituals” and activities to encourage networking and friendships, helping members to adjust to life in Singapore. All this has led to the creation of a highly engaged members’ community, who have continually returned a high housemate satisfaction score when surveyed.

“With this fresh injection of funds, Casa Mia Coliving has added a new set of investors with deep experience in real estate and private equity, including several of the early investors in a leading European coliving operator. We have raised US$2 million to date and are well-positioned to accelerate our growth in Singapore and beyond, in response to the unmet demand for quality accommodation at affordable prices in Asia,” said Casa Mia Coliving co-founder Ahmed Nizar.

Coliving is a low-margin, high-volume business that requires as much automation as possible to scale profitably. Since its beginning, Casa Mia Coliving has leveraged technology from ColivHQ, a bespoke property management software platform, to integrate and automate its operations. With this round, Casa Mia completes the acquisition of ColivHQ, enabling Casa Mia to further enhance the app functionality.

“Given our deep experience in the technology sector, we’ve always recognised the power of technology to drive operational efficiencies. ColivHQ is one of the key factors that contributed to our profitable growth. As we scale up the business with more rooms across more locations, it is an opportune time to embed ColivHQ’s know-how into our growth plans, so we can continue to deliver a superior experience through the coliving customer journey,” said Casa Mia Coliving co-founder Eugenio Ferrante.