Airbnb-backed Zeus Living just laid off 30% of staff — Business Insider

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Business Insider reported, in an article by Alex Nicoll, that Airbnb-backed Zeus Living laid off 30% of staff, or almost 80 people, as the coronavirus upended hospitality and real estate. The company confirmed the layoffs in a statement to Business Insider. Zeus Living rents furnished properties for stays of longer than 30 days in six metro-areas around the country, including New York. The article says it raised a $55 million Series B round at a $205 million valuation, and had previously raised $14 million in venture funding across two rounds. It also lists layoffs at other startups, including Lyric at 20% of staff and Compass at 15%.

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Airbnb-backed Zeus Living just laid off 30% of staff as the coronavirus upends travel and hospitality startups

By Alex Nicoll

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Zeus Living's cofounders, CTO Joe Wong, COO Srini Panguluri, and CEO Kulveer Taggar. Zeus Living

2020-03-24T20:36:13.000Z

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Zeus Living, an Airbnb-backed business travel startup, just laid off workers as the coronavirus upends hospitality and real estate, Business Insider has learned.

In a statement provided to Business Insider, the company confirmed that it has laid off 30% of staff, or almost 80 people.

Zeus Living rents furnished properties for stays of longer than 30 days in six metro-areas around the country, including New York, catering specifically to business travelers. The company has direct partnerships with other companies, like scooter startup Bird, which use Zeus as a replacement for extended-stay hotels for employees.

The company raised a $55 million Series B round at a $205 million valuation in December of last year from a range of backers, including Airbnb and Comcast. It had previously raised $14 million in venture funding across two rounds.

"Given the effects of COVID-19 on the real estate industry, today we are sad to announce a 30% reduction in staff. Our people have made Zeus the exceptional place it is," a company spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "These are colleagues and friends who have helped build Zeus and whose contributions have been invaluable. We remain steadfast in our dedication to our residents and communities, especially the health care and agency professionals working tirelessly to combat this pandemic."

The coronavirus has triggered a wave of layoffs in the venture-backed real estate startup world. Lyric, another hospitality company that has raised money from Airbnb , cut 20% of its staff earlier this March, according to a report from The Real Deal .

Sonder, a venture-backed hospitality and rental company, laid off or furloughed more than 400 people or one third of their staff, The Information reported earlier on Tuesday . Sonder CEO Francis Davidson confirmed that there had been layoffs in a Medium post posted on Tuesday . The news came just a day after Sonder announced that it would be opening a full-building apartment hotel in lower Manhattan in the first half of this year.

There have been other layoffs outside of the hospitality and flexible-rental space: Brookfield-backed flex and event space company Convene laid off 20% of its staff last week , while Softbank-backed brokerage Compass announced layoffs of 15% of its staff on Monday .

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Alex Nicoll

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Alex is a reporter at Business Insider writing about private equity, alternative asset management, and the impact of these growing sectors on the wider world. Previously, he covered real estate and real estate technology for Business Insider. Some previous highlights include his coverage of the real reason Zillow Offers closed , remote work surveillance at a real estate data giant and a real estate's scion new cryptocurrency that's backed by gold he says is buried near Las Vegas . Before joining Business Insider in 2019, he worked for Bridgewater Associates and Peloton. He is also the secretary of the Insider Union. He welcomes any and all reachouts, prioritizes his source's safety, and has a long record of working with confidential sources to tell deeply reported, complicated stories. Get in touch! Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at @alexnicoll.01 using a non-work phone, email at anicoll@businessinsider.com or alexonicoll@protonmail.com , or Twitter DM at @nicollsanddimes . (PR pitches by email only, please.)

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