In 2023, Techvestor will begin its second round of funding for its short-term rentals portfolio, aiming to expand into states like Florida and Arizona and to surpass the eight figures in commitments and LOIs generated by its first round. Techvestor, co-founded by COO Sabrina Guler and CEO Sief Khafagi, identifies, manages, and exits properties through the use of its 16-point strategy and proprietary software, which analyzes over 18MM data points and market maps 250+ markets.
Guler states that Techvestor’s first funding round capitalized on the growing popularity of short-term rentals, up from 10% in 2011 to 34% in 2022. “We have seen that because of the COVID shutdown and increase in remote work, there is more interest in STRs, particularly in America,” she says. “This enabled us to build a portfolio of properties in 10+ markets, including the Poconos, Scottsdale, and Blue Ridge, Georgia. Now we are gearing up for our 2023 funding round, which will focus in part on our latest market: Florida, where we’re growing in more than 4 sub-markets in the sunshine state.”
Khafagi says that Techvestor is currently using its software to analyze potential STRs in places like Tampa, Clearwater, Panama City Beach, and West Palm Beach. “We are also heavily investing in R&D to make sure we have the right resources and boots on ground,” he reveals. “Our goal is that through this process, we can quickly ramp up our newest STRs and meet our investment goals.”
General Partner and Head of Capital Markets Sam Silverman says “We’re excited to continue partnering with investors and fund managers to create a more accessible approach to a historically hard to reach asset class. Our business is dependent on the investor experience and we prioritize it every day”
Aware that Florida is a well-known vacation destination, Guler and Khafagi are focused on unique amenities in that market.
“That is the fun part of the design process: making our STRs different from our competitors’,” says Guler. “All of our properties undergo some form of renovation, whether it be murals, game lounges, outdoor bowling or even small things like unique accent walls throughout the house. This is helping us to brand each STR as being part of the Techvestor portfolio.”
“Our operations team is able to do all of this at speed and to be vertically integrated as we are; we’re focused on how we scale responsibly,” says Khafagi.
Guler says that the second round of funding and acquisition of Florida properties will take Techvestor closer to its vision: to be one of the largest institutional STR operators in the world.
“We want to democratize STR investments,” she says. “With 2023 and its opportunities on our doorstep, we are well on our way.”
Techvestor is the owner of one of the largest portfolio of short-term rental assets and was co-founded by Sabrina Guler, an Engineer Project Manager at Apple who grew its AirPods product line into a multibillion-dollar revenue stream, and Sief Khafagi, who helped build the second-largest engineering organization at Facebook/Meta. Techvestor uses its software to identify what to buy, where to buy it, how to best finance it, how to operate it, if the property is in a sustainable market, and what realistic growth looks like. The company has successfully exited eight times, with an average IRR of 42%. Guler and Khafagi envision Techvestor becoming a $1B aggregate fund with over 1,500 properties for passive investors.
For more information about Techvestor, including its Florida STRs, please visit the company’s website or contact:
The Techvestor Team
(415) 650-4705
