CasaHop, a startup that uses social media sites to match users who are willing to host friends in their homes, has raised $1.2 million in financing led by First Round Capital.
The self-described "social home exchange," which soft-launched in February, is less about monetizing a home by renting it out (think Airbnb) and more about connecting with friends and having them stay over, CEO Paul Berry told GigaOM.
Also participating in the financing were Betaworks, Lerer Ventures and individual investors, GigaOM reported. CasaHop now has funding for about 18 months of operations, and plans to use the money to prepare for a wider launch within the next couple months, GigaOM’s Ryan Kim reports.
CasaHop is one of two startups to come out of SoHo Tech Labs, an incubator Berry founded in February with other veterans of Huffington Post. The incubator’s other project is social publishing platform RebelMouse.
