The idea of making a marketplace for underutilized property that may flip right into a significant enterprise for hosts just isn’t a brand new one. And there isn’t any larger profile of how profitable that mannequin could be than Airbnb. So it’s no shock that one in all Airbnb’s most distinguished buyers, GGV Capital, is now backing one other startup with the same mannequin. But moderately than placing properties on a marketplace, Swimply got here up with the concept of pairing householders with swimming pools with individuals who need personal entry to them. And to date, enterprise goes swimmingly.
To hold issues flowing (couldn’t resist), the startup has simply raised $40 million in a funding spherical led by Mayfield — simply seven months after asserting a $10 million financing. Besides Mayfield and GGV, different backers embody Conrad Shang and Collin West at Ensemble Ventures and a high-profile record of validating angel buyers together with Airbnb co-founder Nate Blecharczyk; Casey Winters, formely of Pinterest and Grubhub; Lime co-founder Brad Bao; Rob Chestnut, former chief ethics officer at Airbnb and eBay; Instacart CEO Fidji Simo and Shef’s Alvin Salehi. They be a part of present backers Norwest Venture Partners and Trust Ventures.
The method it really works is fairly easy. Swimply connects householders which have underutilized yard areas and swimming pools with individuals in search of a method to collect, cool off or train, for instance. People or households can lease swimming pools by the hour at a mean worth of $45 to $65 per hour, relying on the facilities.
In May, co-founder Bunim Laskin advised TechCrunch that Swimply was seeing “seven digits a month in revenue” and 15,000 to twenty,000 reservations a month. Over the previous six months alone, Swimply has seen 3x development. In the final yr, its website facilitated 250,000 bookings, up from 40,000 all of final yr — up greater than six occasions. In 2021, it put 1 million individuals in 15,000 swimming pools throughout 103 cities.
So whereas the corporate declined to disclose its revenues, if it will get a reduce of every of these bookings, nicely, that’s not insignificant. (It expenses a ten% visitor service payment that it says helps cowl insurance coverage assist in addition to a 15% fee payment from the proprietor.)
The surge in demand stunned even co-founders Laskin (who got here up with the concept for the corporate when he was simply 20) and Asher Weinberger.
“In 2020, we booked a lot of smaller groups. But this year, with people getting vaccinated [against COVID], we saw more birthday parties being celebrated, swimming lessons coming back and people getting together again for the first time in a while,” Laskin advised TechCrunch.
Now the corporate is trying to increase past swimming pools to outside areas typically. In 2022, it plans to match individuals with different “passion” areas, resembling underutilized sizzling tubs, tennis courts, giant yard areas, rooftops and even at some point…indoor gyms. This results in an oblique sustainability element in that really utilizing underutilized areas as an alternative of constructing new ones that comes with discouraging new building.
Swimply can also be pleased with the truth that it’s spawning entrepreneurs. Like Airbnb, Swimply’s hosts have the potential to make massive bucks, in keeping with Laskin.
In 2020, the highest-earning host earned a bit of over $20,000. This yr, there have been hosts that earned over six figures. In truth, the highest 20% of hosts earned round $5,000 monthly, Laskin mentioned.
“This is turning a lot of people into solopreneurs,” Laskin mentioned.
That’s a part of the rationale Swimply is utilizing a few of its new capital to construct new instruments for its hosts to assist them higher handle their companies. As proof of that, some hosts are taking issues a step additional and doing issues like putting in merchandising machines on their properties or providing chef’s providers to their company.
The firm additionally plans to scale up assist, insurance coverage and, as talked about beforehand, launch new verticals.
Some enjoyable stats concerning the enterprise we discovered fascinating: Twenty % of Swimply’s income comes from the Los Angeles market. Next up of standard markets are: Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; New York City and Maryland. Sixty % of the bookings are made by households. The common reservation is 2 hours lengthy. Repeat reservations make up about 72% of bookings.
Mayfield Managing Director Navin Chaddha notes that his group has “big believers in the sharing economy,” as evidenced not solely by its main this spherical, however by the agency’s investments one other sharing financial system startups resembling Lyft and Poshmark. The pool market, particularly, is interesting as a result of swimming is likely one of the high actions for households however only a few individuals have entry to swimming pools.
“Swimply’s mission is to democratize ownership of recreational spaces and to allow hosts to share underutilized assets for their local communities, starting with swimming pools,” he mentioned. “I’m very, very excited about partnering with Swimply and helping the world get equalized, and not only the rich having access to these amenities.”
The mixture of the market alternative with mission-oriented founders was an enormous draw for Chaddha.
“Swimply has seen exploding growth, and we believe the market is much bigger than swimming pools, which in and of itself is a $52 billion market,” he advised TechCrunch. “They have the potential to do with Airbnb, Lyft and Poshmark for this constituency. It was a no-brainer to lead a $40 million round for this company.”
GGV Managing Partner Hans Tung and Principal Robin Li had been drawn to Swimply for lots of the identical causes that Mayfield was.
For Li, the prospect of giving individuals simpler and extra personal entry to outside areas is large.
“This is the country club reinvented and even revolutionizing what the YMCA will be like in the future,” she mentioned. “At most of these places, there are so many restrictions on what you can wear, and what you can do. There are so many hurdles to book a place, even in your local neighborhood.”
The incontrovertible fact that Swimply has so many repeat customers is proof of how simple the expertise is, in her view.
Tung sees a variety of parallels between Airbnb and Swimply’s fashions. But one massive distinction, he factors out, is the frequency at which individuals journey in comparison with going swimming or merely spending time open air.
“Swimming is more everyday use and a higher frequency of usage, which makes the platform extremely interesting,” he advised TechCrunch.
For hosts too, this may be extra profitable, since you’ll be able to lease the identical house greater than as soon as a day, a number of occasions every week.
“Frequency usage is a lot higher than any travel site,” he mentioned. “So like TikTok and Poshmark, Swimply is allowing more everyday people to monetize, and empowering more merchants.”