Key Details
After ten years, Homelike, the online platform specializing in long-term furnished apartment rentals for business travelers, has closed down as of March 28, 2025. The Germany-based company announced the shutdown on its website, ending a business that had grown to include over 70,000 properties across Europe and the United States.
Homelike specialized in providing furnished apartments for stays of 28 days or longer, appealing to professionals who wanted something more comfortable and home-like compared to hotels.
Although Homelike has stopped taking new bookings, the company reassured customers that existing reservations will still be honored by their accommodation providers. Users can access their booking details on the Homelike dashboard until April 30, 2025.
The Timeline
Homelike launched its MVP in 2015 and quickly attracted significant funding to fuel its growth. In 2017, Homelike raised €4 million in Series A funding from Cherry Ventures and Coparion, which helped fuel its expansion into new markets. By 2018, Homelike raised another $14 million, with investors like Spark Capital joining in, setting the stage for rapid expansion.
By 2019, Homelike had over 45,000 apartments available in about 100 European cities. The company continued expanding and entered the U.S. market in 2021, starting with New York City.
In 2023, Homelike received an "eight-digit" funding boost from hospitality investor QIG and merged with Q Global Network, another QIG-owned company. That year, Homelike reported $100 million in booking volumes.
However, at the end of 2024, reports in the German startup press showed Homelike was in financial trouble, narrowly escaping insolvency through an emergency funding deal
By early 2025, despite growing to more than 70,000 properties across 450 cities in Europe and the U.S., Homelike had to file for insolvency again, ultimately unable to sustain operations
According to CB Insights, the company raised a total of $32.08 million throughout its lifetime.
Our Take
Speculative analysis of the potential causes (unverified):
Homelike hasn't publicly stated the exact reasons for shutting down. However, there are several potential factors that likely contributed to its decline:
Persistent Financial Struggles
Available financial filings obtained by Deutsche Startups show that Homelike struggled to become profitable. Even with $100 million in bookings in 2023, the company kept losing money—posting a €4.8 million loss in 2022, though improved from €6.9 million the prior year. This meant the company depended on investor funding to survive.
When funding became harder to get between 2022–24, due to rising interest rates and cautious investors, Homelike probably struggled to find enough cash. The emergency funding from QIG in 2023 kept them alive temporarily, but if business didn’t significantly improve, running out of money was inevitable. Simply put, an unsustainable business model and a tough funding environment is likely the main cause of their shutdown.
Shifts in the Corporate Travel Market
The mid-term corporate rental segment has faced headwinds as work and travel habits changed. Corporate travel demand changed during the pandemic, and even in recovery, most companies have reduced long-term assignments or embraced remote work alternatives. This naturally results in fewer employees needing stays of 1–6 months, so it’s possible that overall market growth was weaker or more volatile than the company’s business plan projected.
Competitive Pressure and Consolidation
Homelike faced intense competition in the furnished rental space from both startups and established companies:
- Blueground has grown into a global leader in extended-stay rentals, managing over 15,000 of its own furnished apartments in 100 cities globally. Blueground’s size, funding, and direct control of inventory give it a strong advantage in serving corporate clients, potentially drawing business away from marketplace-only players like Homelike.
- In the U.S. market, Zeus Living — a San Francisco-based corporate housing startup backed by Airbnb — targeted similar clientele and raised over $150 million in funding, yet it struggled financially and shut down in late 2023. The collapse of Zeus, which had a model somewhat comparable to Homelike’s, underscores how challenging this sector can be.
- Other niche competitors such as Anyplace (focused on digital nomads) remain in business but at a much smaller scale (managing over 100 units in NYC, SF, and LA).
This competitive environment, along with industry consolidation, may have hurt Homelike’s margins and capture enough market share, especially against bigger or more specialized rivals.
Bottom line:
Analysts suggest the mid-term rental market is undergoing consolidation, with only companies that have profitable business models or strong financial backing likely to survive.
Homelike’s closure, following Zeus Living’s shutdown, highlights how competitive and possibly overcrowded this market is. Companies with unique strategies—like Blueground’s full-service model or Anyplace’s niche market—and strong operational efficiency are continuing.
Homelike’s story serves as a cautionary tale for proptech startups: even with initial growth and a solid product, maintaining profitability and staying competitive in mid-term rentals can be extremely tough in today's market.
