PRESS Archives - Urban Campus

Press Release: Urban Campus raises €7M From Nexity and Batipart to accelerate its development

Urban Campus designs and manages coliving and multifamily residences in Europe on behalf of institutional investors.
The company announces that it completed a €7M funding round with Nexity and Batipart to expand into new markets.

Paris 8 April 2021,

Urban Campus, which designs and manages coliving and multifamily residences in Europe on behalf of institutional investors, announces that it completed a €7M funding round with Nexity and Batipart to accelerate its development.

Urban Campus manages 2 residences in Madrid and has a robust pipeline of more than 30 projects in key European cities. The company developed its proprietary technology platform, Dunbar, which is at the core of its operations. Dunbar has a resident-centric interface, optimizes all key residential processes, and enables community management applications.

John van Oost, Urban Campus’ CEO said «We wish to warmly thank Nexity and Batipart for their confidence and support. Both organizations understand the attractiveness of the booming build-to-rent (BTR) sector and the uniqueness of our technology platform. They share our ambition and objective to deliver an enriched residential experience to tenants whilst optimizing the financial returns for institutional investors.»

«Nexity continues to support Urban Campus with whom we collaborate on a number of large coliving and BTR projects in France, Italy, and Germany,» said Fabrice Aubert, Nexity’s Secretary-General. «We strongly believe in the development of the residential rental market and its value proposition, both for the residents and for investors, with access to common spaces and high-quality services as well as, positive social interactions.»

«Batipart is delighted to participate in Urban Campus’ funding round. We were impressed by the experience that Urban Campus gained in Madrid for the last 3 years and its unique technology platform. We want to support Urban Campus as it accelerates its growth», said Louis Bayon, Batipart’s Managing Director.

Urban Campus was advised by Laurent Camilli at Clearwater International and Pierre-Alexandre Kahn at Weil Gotshal & Menges.

About Nexity

With more than 11,000 employees and €4.9 billion in revenue in 2020, Nexity is France’s leading integrated real estate group, with a nationwide presence and business operations in all areas of real estate development and services for individuals, companies, and local authorities.

Our services platform is designed to serve all our clients as their real estate needs evolve. Firmly committed to focusing on people and how they are connected with each other, their cities, and the environment, Nexity was named the number-one low-carbon project owner in France among real estate developers ranked by BBCA in 2020, is a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) and obtained Great Place to Work certification in 2020.

Nexity is listed on the SRD, Euronext’s Compartment A, and the SBF 120.

About Batipart

Family group founded by Charles Ruggieri in 1988, Batipart invests in and develops projects in the real estate, hotel, and tourism sectors in Europe, Africa, and North America.

In Europe, the Batipart group is active in 7 countries – Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, and Luxembourg – through its offices based in Luxembourg, Paris, Toulouse, Madrid, and Milan. Its European assets represent €4 billion under management.

In Africa, Batipart is a hotel operator and investor, with more than 20 hotels owned and managed, representing over 700 employees in more than 15 countries.

In North America, Batipart is a real estate investor and operator in Canada and the United States, in partnership and through Cogir Immobilier. With nearly €5 billion in assets under management, COGIR owns 700,000m² of commercial, industrial, and office properties, as well as retirement homes, and employs 3,500 people in Canada and the United States.

Press mentions:

Urban Campus is a finalist in the first-ever edition of the Coliving Awards.

We have been nominated in 2 categories!

Coliving Awards is the first award show dedicated to highlighting key innovators, actors, and ideas that are shaping the coliving industry, and contribute to the development of this asset class transforming the future of living.

Urban Campus Coliving awards

The 2021 awards ceremony will take place on May, 6th, after a final vote, which you can participate in by clicking the following links.

You can also head out to the Coliving Awards website for a description of each nominated project.

Thanks to the Coliving Awards team for nominating us and to our great community! We could not be prouder.
We would also like to congratulate the other nominees for their great work and ambition to make the coliving industry flourish.

Televisión Española didn’t want to miss the chance to understand what coliving is all about, so we invited them to our Malasaña coliving to let them experience the coliving vibe themselves.

They interviewed 2 Urban Campus residents, who explained what it’s like to live in one of our spaces, the price (from 900 €), and what that includes, and how great it is to land in Madrid and move into your new home without any struggles.

Televisión Española was also present at one of our “Grow together” sessions that took place during our Community dinner.

Coliving is all about sharing and learning from each other. That’s why we organize bi-weekly Community dinners, where our colivers can get to know each other, and where our Community Developers can introduce new members to the community.

Each session has a different theme, where we cover several topics linked to the subject and organize different activities for the incoming weeks. This time we did a “Grow together” session, where our members share their career journeys (success and failures) with other residents, so they can grow together while enjoying nice food and drinks.

Want to get to know our community better and see how our community dinners work? Watch the full report in Spanish below.

OK Diario has named Urban Campus as one of the Coliving Key Players in Spain. Read the whole article in Spanish here, or keep reading the translation in English below.

Urban Campus, Inédit and Projects share the ‘coliving’ market in Madrid and Barcelona

2020 will be a year of growth for ‘coliving’, a type of accommodation that consists of renting a private area (studio) in a property that also enables access to shared spaces and additional services.

Although the current offer is still very small in Spain, experts predict that ‘coliving’ will soon become the future of the real estate sector. Coliving will grow thanks to the high profitability offered to the owner – between 15% and 20% – and demographic trends.

The three companies that dominate this market in Madrid and Barcelona are Urban Campus, Inédit and Projets.

The French company Urban Campus was one of the first to land in the Spanish market. It has 120 single beds spread over two buildings in Madrid. They also design and operate two coworking spaces and a Foodlab (coworking space for gastronomic entrepreneurship with professional kitchen) in Spain’s capital.

The other big market operator is Inèdit, with 21 flats in Barcelona, a total of 113 rooms. (113 individual places). The Spanish company expects that in 2021 80% of companies dedicated to the sector will have an average of 250 beds. It also predicts that these types of properties will grow up to 40% by the middle of next year. Why is coliving becoming so popular? According to Inèdit, it’s due to the high profitability that it offers to investors and due to the increase of young professionals that move to Spain’s biggest cities every year.

Coliving spaces are mainly aimed at young professionals who want to live in a community, share experiences and who, generally, look to stay for periods that do not exceed 12 months. The average price of this type of accommodation is 900 euros per month.

Projets is one of the best-known operators in Europe. They operate in cities where the concept of ‘coliving’ is already well established, like Amsterdam or London. The German company has been operating in Madrid since April 2019 and has 25 rooms located in the district of Tetuan. The company expects to add 1,000 new homes throughout the world in 2020.

Lack of solid legal framework

However one of the problems faced by this new business model, that’s affecting its development rate, is legislation. There is no specific coliving planning regulation: «Hotel or tourist apartment regulations do not adapt to this product. The absence of a solid legal framework causes a delay in its development, despite the enormous interest that has aroused both among users and investors” according to real estate consultant Savills Newman. The consultant believes that the new business model will also be another attraction factor to capture and retain talent in the labor market.

Elix VRS signs an agreement with Urban Campus

Eje Prime has written about ELIX VRS’s acquisition of 2 coliving residences managed by Urban Campus.

This acquisition demonstrates the attractiveness of Urban Campus to institutional investors, which is a pillar of our development in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

You can read the whole article in Spanish here or keep reading in English.

Elix VRS joins forces with Urban Campus to enter the ‘coliving’ market.

The latest acquisitions made by the SIIC in Madrid, who is managed by the investment funds KKR and Altamar, will be operated by Urban Campus, a company specialising in the management of shared residential spaces.

Both companies will collaborate on the management of two properties purchased by the SIIC. The first, announced on January 9, includes two buildings located around Plaza de España in the capital, which Elix VRS acquired for 5.6 million euros and 5.2 million euros respectively. Both properties have undergone an extensive refurbishment, and have a common area of 3,184 square meters, in addition to commercial and parking spaces. The operation was financed with the company’s own resources, according to a statement sent to the Alternative Stock Market (MAB).

“Urban Campus was already operating the properties purchased by the SIIC.”

On January 16, the SIIC announced the purchase of another property for 12.4 million euros. The asset is located on Mellado Street, and was the first coliving residential center opened and operated by Urban Campus, in Spain. The building has a built area of 3,360 square meters and its acquisition was financed through the company’s own funds and a loan, with a real estate guarantee of 7.4 million euros. It also has four commercial premises. So far Urban Campus has 110 beds available in two coliving spaces which in total comprehend more than 5,000 square meters. In addition, it also operates two coworking spaces and a foodlab in the Spanish capital.

“Urban Campus expects to invest up to 200 million euros in the Spanish market by 2025.”

As previously shared by Eje Prime, the French company plans to operate investments between 150 million and 200 million euros in the next five years. The company plans to open ten new centers in the main cities of Spain that would add some 2,000 beds.

Movistar plus about new ways of living

Iñaki Gabilondo, the well known Spanish reporter returns to Movistar plus # 0 with the fifth season of “When I am gone”. A very interesting TV show that asks the question, what will the world look like in 25 years?

In this season, in addition to interviewing great national and international experts, he will encourage debates through anonymous questions posed by the public.

In 2050 it is estimated that 10,000 million inhabitants live in the world, this will affect architecture, it will only be necessary to build four times more than what is built. To better understand the contrast between the world that arrives and the one that is destroyed, in this chapter we will turn our gaze to a group of anonymous people who are dedicated to looking for new models of Coexistence, other types of neighborhood ties or spaces to share professional experiences.

On this episode, Iñaki visits Urban Campus Malasaña Coliving to discuss new ways of living, and interviews one of our residents Teresa, as part of a round table with some other game-changers and entrepreneurs.

We are really happy to have hosted Movistar Plus and their innovative show, and to keep contributing to changing the way people live in cities!

Urban Campus interview at “Mundo Emprende” show from esRadio

Urban Campus interview at "Mundo Emprende" show from esRadio

Our Operations Manager and Marketing Manager, Ana Martínez de Lizarrondo and Marta Torres Vilas, were interviewed on the “Mundo Emprende” show, on esRadio.

Mundo Emprende is a Spanish Radioshow that aims to promote and spread culture and entrepreneurship in Spain, by sharing tips, ideas, and guidelines, that every entrepreneur should know. They also interview key players of the entrepreneurial scene in Spain, and so Ana and Marta were invited to share the Urban Campus story, explaining what we do and our mission to revolutionize how people live and interact in cities through our coliving spaces.

Curios on how it went? Watch the full Urban Campus interview at “Mundo Emprende” esRadio!