New York-based startup Stayawhile announced today that it’s scored $1.5 million in seed funding to provide travelers with what founder Janine Yorio refers to as “medium-term housing.” It’s a midway point between your standard hotel/Airbnb stay and a year-plus apartment lease, aimed at vacations and business travelers who’d like to spread out their stay in a new city a bit longer than more traditional offerings afford.
The funding series, led by New Enterprise Associates, along with Founders Fund and Global Founders Capital, will go towards staffing (its current headcount is six) and rental furnishing for the startup, which has been in stealth mode up to this point. Today also marks the company’s soft launch, though it’s already been getting its ducks in a row, creating four prototype spaces in New York City. Next month, the company will begin accepting reservations for locations in NYC and Boston, with Washington D.C. and San Francisco following in the fall, and London, Paris and L.A. happening next year.
Stayawhile’s target demographic seems fairly niche to start. The company envisions its audience as “upscale nomads, bicoastal…