Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Profiles Remote Year Profile: Pandemic Layoffs, Business Model, and Current Status

Profiles · Companies and entities

ProfileCompany or group

Remote Year Profile: Pandemic Layoffs, Business Model, and Current Status

Other company

Type
Company or group
Role
Other company
Updated
  • Category: travel and hospitality
  • Pandemic layoffs: about 50 roles, 50% of staff (TechCrunch, March 2020)
  • Last updated: 2026-09-25

Pandemic-role map

  • Reader shorthand: a Chicago startup that sold year-long work-and-travel programs and lost half its revenue in days when borders closed in March 2020.
  • What Remote Year did for customers: moved groups of remote workers through a new city each month, with travel, private rooms and activities included.
  • What broke in the pandemic: travel between countries; the company paused its programs and stopped taking new participants.
  • Relief role: none; it was not a lender or relief processor.
  • Own relief: SBA's PPP loan data list no borrower named Remote Year.

Founders, Executives, and Investors

TechCrunch identified Greg Caplan as Remote Year's founder in March 2020. By October 2020, Sam Pessin was co-founder and CEO. TechCrunch reported that Remote Year had raised $5 million from LightBank less than six months before the layoff, bringing its total funding to $17 million, according to Crunchbase data.

Business Before the Pandemic

Remote Year's website in September 2014 described a one-year program for 100 people, who would spend two to five weeks in each of 18 places while working remotely; the first group was due to leave on June 1, 2015. In 2020 the program took people to 12 cities in 12 months, at $2,000 to $3,000 a person per month. By October 2020 the company also offered one-, four- and six-month programs.

What the Pandemic Changed

Caplan told TechCrunch on March 19, 2020 that Remote Year had laid off half its staff, about 50 roles in sales, marketing and product. "The borders sort of froze up with the virus and a lot of our folks decided not to travel and go home," he said. "Half of our revenue dried off in a couple of days, and there's no end in sight when this situation may change." The company said it still had runway from its last round, and its three-person team that placed people in remote jobs was coaching the laid-off staff.

Layoffs.fyi noted in May 2020 that small travel startups such as Lola, Remote Year and WanderJaunt had cut dozens of jobs each before Airbnb and TripAdvisor made any cuts. Remote Year's website told prospective customers that its programs had paused and that it was not accepting new participants.

Business After the First Shock

On Oct. 5, 2020, the hostel-and-hotel group Selina announced an all-stock acquisition of Remote Year's brand and customer base. Remote Year kept its own name and began using Selina's properties, then spread over 19 countries on three continents. Pessin said the company was "planning for a surge in demand" for its four- and 12-month programs as travel resumed. In 2023, Remote Year members were offered 10% or 20% off Selina accommodation and coworking, depending on their membership.

Where the Company Is Now

Remote Year has shut down. Selina declared insolvency in July 2024 and was delisted from Nasdaq. In late August 2024, Collective Hospitality, a Singapore-based group, bought most of Selina's business assets, including about 100 hotels and Remote Year. Destination Group CEO Gary Murray, whose company owns Collective Hospitality, called Remote Year a "fabulous business" at the time. Four months later, on Dec. 21, 2024, Skift reported that Remote Year was shutting down after nearly a decade. The company's statement cited "circumstances beyond our control" and said its new owner had "blocked our last opportunity to continue."

Source Notes

Back to top