Kocomo is a timeshare with a difference. Offering cross-border co-ownership of fully serviced luxury holiday homes, or more like mansions, the Mexico City-based ‘proptech’ startup company announced on August 30 that it had raised approximately A$76 million in debt and equity.
In aiming for making “the dream of vacation homeownership an attainable reality for more people around the world”, Kocomo lists luxury properties and vets co-owners so users can share the expenses of a luxury holiday home. Unlike timeshare services, users of Kocomo also pay for top hotel treatment with each property serviced by an onsite chef and service staff.
While Kocomo is primarily focused on luxury holiday homes in Mexico, the Caribbean and Costa Rica, the co-ownership startup also has its sights set on Europe and is set to shake up the luxury homeownership space.
In an interview with Tech Crunch, CEO and co-founder of Kocomo, Martin Schrimpff, said that it was his experience of renting Airbnbs year after year only to encounter “inconsistent quality and lack of professional management” that led him to workshop the idea of co-ownership.
In terms of the end-user experience, Kocomo functions through an app, similar to Airbnb in terms of the booking, messaging and associated services functions, to make booking your co-owned property is accessible and straightforward. In this sense, Kocomo acts as a neutral third-party administrator to facilitate co-ownership of properties between no more than eight families. Kocomo users also have the option to then sell fractional interests in the properties.
Kocomo users have the option to pay for 1/8th of the property plus a 12. per cent service fee in a one-off payment or pay for a proportionate share of the operating expenses, passed through at cost, in addition to a A$205 platform fee on a monthly basis.
This article originally appeared on Fancy
