Starcity, a US-based community accommodation network backed by home improvement retail chain Lowe’s and mass media group Comcast, has secured $16.5m in series A funding, Fortune has reported.
The cash was supplied by Invest AG, the venture capital arm of financial services firm Raiffeisen, as well as VC fund Bullpen Capital, accelerator Y Combinator and VC firm Alrai Capital.
Starcity is building a network of co-living spaces in which each resident gets a furnished private room but shares living spaces such as kitchens and living rooms. All bills are included in the rent.
The company raised $440,000 in convertible note financing in June 2016 according to a securities filing, and it is listed as a portfolio company of both Comcast‘s Catalyst Fund and Lowe’s subsidiary Lowe’s Ventures.
Other past investors in Starcity include Y Combinator, Alrai, New Enterprise Associates, Social Capital, Urban.Us, Kima Ventures, Blue Seed Collective and angel investors Paul Bucchiet, Othman Laraki and Jared Friedman.