Casa Mia Coliving
About the Company
Casa Mia Coliving offers modern, affordable, and ready-to-move-in coliving spaces for young professionals in Singapore. The company’s core business model integrates concepts from the sharing economy and focuses on offering sustainable housing solutions in sought-after urban areas. With 150 rooms spread across prime neighborhoods like River Valley, Tiong Bahru, and Orchard, Casa Mia provides tenants not only with housing but also a sense of community.
The company differentiates itself by providing larger, more spacious rooms that are work-from-home friendly. In addition, they use technology, including their proprietary platform ColivHQ, to streamline operations, from managing tenants to property maintenance. By focusing on quality service and strong customer relationships, Casa Mia Coliving has rapidly grown its customer base.
Idea Behind Company
Both founders had experiences of relocating internationally for work and struggling with housing. Eugenio and Ahmed, both professionals in consulting and banking, moved frequently across cities like London, Seattle, and New Delhi. They faced challenges in finding affordable accommodations in the right neighborhoods and subletting with strangers. These personal challenges led to the concept behind Casa Mia Coliving.
They both moved to Singapore for work and saw an opportunity to address the gaps in the local housing market. While Eugenio was inspired by coliving trends in Italy, Ahmed found that navigating Singapore's rental market was difficult for young professionals. After meeting and realizing their shared vision, they decided to build Casa Mia to meet the housing needs of people like them.
Creating the Company
Casa Mia Coliving launched just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Singapore. Though initially a challenge, the pandemic helped them fine-tune their product offering, which included larger rooms suitable for working from home. The crisis also gave them the opportunity to develop their proprietary management software, ColivHQ, which streamlined their operations and improved efficiency.
The software allowed Casa Mia to manage tasks like CRM, property management, billing, and customer support all in one system. Unlike many small coliving companies that struggled to scale, Casa Mia built a strong foundation from the start, ensuring they could handle rapid growth without compromising service quality. By the end of 2020, they had built a well-rounded system and were ready to expand.
Launching the Business
Casa Mia Coliving was bootstrapped initially, with some additional support from friends and family later on. The first home launched successfully, with all rooms being booked immediately. The team maintained a cautious financial approach, ensuring they didn't spend more than they earned. The company grew steadily by reinvesting funds into new properties.
The launch was successful due to organic growth through social media, word-of-mouth, and Google reviews. Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, Casa Mia continued to attract tenants by offering community-building events and activities, even holding virtual gatherings during lockdowns. As a result, the average member stays for about 16 months, which is significantly longer than industry standards.
Earnings
Casa Mia Coliving generates $200,000 per month in revenue, equating to an annualized income of $2.4 million. The company is profitable and focuses on maintaining strong unit economics, with a 10x LTV/CAC (lifetime value to customer acquisition cost) ratio. This profitability stems from their careful selection of real estate partners and the ability to maintain a high margin per room.
Their business strategy focuses on sustainable growth rather than rapid scaling. They aim to double their operations in Singapore and expand into a second city soon. By carefully managing costs and maintaining high service quality, they’ve built a successful, scalable business model that’s set to grow even further.
