A startup that aims to help people quickly outfit new homes with rental furnishings has clinched $6.8 million in funding from investors, including Opendoor CEO Eric Wu and various Uber execs.
Oliver Space lets new homeowners and renters collaborate with an advisor to settle on the layout and design of interiors. They can rent the items they select on a monthly basis.
“The thought of picking out new furniture for each move that fit my apartment, coordinating the logistics of delivery and assembly around my busy schedule, and the high upfront costs didn’t make sense when I didn’t know where I would be in one year,” said Oliver Space founder Chan Park in a statement, explaining his rationale for launching the startup.
The startup delivers and puts together all selected items within a few days. Should a customer choose to keep the odd chair, coffee table or carpet, the customer can buy them at retail price, while deducting however much they’ve already paid to rent the stuff, TechCrunch reported.
The idea is to spare people the time, upfront costs and assembly work of trips to stores such as IKEA and Target.
TechCrunch notes that Oliver Space joins a growing number of venture capital-funded startups that are seeking to popularize furnishing rentals, including Fernish and Feather.
Park, the Oliver founder, has some pedigree. He is the former general manager of the Asian division of ride-hailing behemoth Uber. And he apparently was able to sell some colleagues on his project. A number of Uber executives contributed to the funding round.
The round was led by Mayfield Fund, with participation from Abstract Ventures.
Eric Wu, CEO of iBuyer Opendoor, also chipped in, adding to a real estate-related portfolio that includes Roofstock, a single-family rental marketplace, and Juvo, a data firm that helps lenders identify credit-worthy borrowers without robust financial identities.
Wu has previously said that one of his dreams would be to offer a shopping cart-like experience to buyers of Opendoor homes, under which they could order the installment of various items.
