Helping frequent travellers with home co-ownership, UK’s Flyway flies off with €10 million

London and Athens-based proptech Flyway has brought in $10 million in a seed and debt funding round to offer fully-managed second home co-ownership. The fresh cash will enable the startup to buy and sell its first London properties. 

The round was backed by Signal ventures, Monday Capital, GroupRMC, and proptech angel investors Florian Hagenbuch and Alex Chatzieleftheriou.

Frequent travellers in big metropolises typically spend money on hotels and rentals every time they visit. Also, committing to ownership of an entire second home is not affordable for the majority. Attempting to change this, Flyway targets the international city second homes market, known as pied-à-terre. Founded by Nikos Drandakis and Sanja Ilic, the platform provides proprietary planning technology and professional management of the property (cleaning, repairs, maintenance), creates a marketplace to buy and sell shares of second homes in town, and offers an alternative to hotels, rentals and home buying.

So how does the model work? Every house is converted into a property-specific LTD (limited liability company) with 12 shares. Buyers choose the share they want, for example, a quarter of the house guarantees them stays for a quarter of the year, and the company continues to sell the remaining shares to selected buyers. Owners have access to everything related to their second home via the app, including seamless reservation of stays, supervision of expenses shared with other co-owners, discussions with their ‘home manager’, and even the unlocking their home from their phone.

Nikos Drandakis, CEO of Flyway said: “This is the moment where the DIY second home co-ownership model gets ‘Airbnb-fied,’ enabling this real estate segment to expand significantly. Flyway removes all barriers that made second home co-ownership cumbersome, like demand aggregation, property management, and scheduling. We organise the ownership group, manage the legal process, and provide the tech tools so owners can easily and equitably schedule time. Plus, we manage the home itself.”