Airbnb-backed Zeus Living reportedly winds down after raising $150M as rates bit

A startup that redecorated landlords' homes and rented them furnished, first to relocated workers on 30-day stays and later to anyone.

That managing furnished homes directly for 30-day-plus stays could scale into a flexible-living brand backed by cheap capital.

$150M in debt and equity, about $125M of it equity.

Zeus Living was founded in 2015, redecorating landlords' homes and renting them furnished, mainly for 30-day-plus corporate stays. It then broadened to give people more options to move with less commitment, listing homes it managed directly and stressing it was not a marketplace.

Airbnb invested in its $55M Series B in 2019, when it had a $100M revenue run rate and a $205M valuation. In October 2021 CEO Kulveer Taggar said the next raise would go to getting more homes while the remote-work boom helped. Rates then rose, and in November 2023 an email to landlords said Zeus was struggling financially and could no longer make payments on homes, per The Information.

Reportedly winding down operations in November 2023; TechCrunch had no company comment.

Interest rates reached their highest in two decades, raising costs and cutting returns for companies like Zeus.

Zeus managed homes directly rather than as a marketplace, so it carried the payments on them.

Its 2021 growth plan, to get more homes, rode the pandemic remote-work boom.

Per The Information, Zeus told landlords it could no longer make payments on homes.

A model that leases and manages many homes with debt is exposed to interest-rate swings, and a pandemic demand boom can mask that exposure.

As of 2023-11-08 Zeus Living was reported to be winding down, based on The Information and an email to landlords; the company had not commented to TechCrunch.