HomeRoom closes $1M pre-seed, joining Y Combinator’s latest batch of funded startups 

A Kansas City proptech startup that matches roommates with affordable coliving opportunities is reporting record growth, along with a newly announced million-dollar pre-seed funding round led by a leading early stage investor.

The investment from Y Combinator, The Uplift Syndicate and The HO0 Fund is expected to help HomeRoom — a residential real estate marketplace that connects rental property investors seeking turnkey experiences and tenants — scale to more than 80 cities across 20 metros, including 1,000 homes and 6,000 tenants, said Johnny Wolff, the Prairie Village-based company’s CEO and founder.

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Elevator pitch: We have elevated the home-sharing concept to a new level. Sure, we match roommates to their ideal houses, but there’s so much more.

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It also broadens HomeRoom’s investor playbook, tapping into new investor channels (like RIA firms and family offices) with diversified products, and pushing technology and team expansion, he continued.

“Being a part of Y Combinator, even at this very early stage, has already improved our team efficiency and execution, helping us focus on the right things to solve the right problems,” Wolff said of the startup fund and accelerator program, which has been used to launch nearly 3,000 companies including Airbnb, DoorDash, Stripe, Instacart, Dropbox, and Coinbase.

The combined valuation of Y Combinator companies is more than $300 billion, according to the funder, which offers programs and resources that support founders throughout the life of their companies.

“Our YC advisors, Michael Seibel and Brad Flora and Divya Bhat, have been bold, steady forces during the process, and we’re honored to have the backing and guidance of some of the most influential minds in tech as we continue to build HomeRoom,” Wolff said.

Click here to explore HomeRoom’s opportunities for individuals and property investors.

The HomeRoom platform currently has 140 coliving homes in 25 cities across six major metros, owned by 85 investors, according to the startup, generating $2.8 million in rental gross merchandise volume in 2021, up more than 300 percent from 2020.

“From our small beginnings in 2018, with a single home with four roommates in Kansas City, to a community of 1,000-plus roommates in 31 cities as we close out [2021]; we are continuously humbled, grateful for and emboldened by the ways HomeRoom is growing,” Wolff said. “This year has been monumental in growing and learning with our homeowners and our renters.”