Sief Khafagi

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Published on 23, Feb 2023

Techvestor Aims for STR Market Dominance in 2023 with Fund 2

As 2022 winds down, investors wonder what 2023 will bring, especially in real estate, whose ups and downs have been nothing short of dramatic for several years. While most people are watching the personal housing market, they would do well to pay attention to one of the country’s newest asset classes: short-term rentals, a passive investment opportunity being defined by Techvestor. Co-founded by COO Sabrina Guler and CEO Sief Khafagi, Techvestor is capitalizing on 21st-century technology to eliminate the uncertainty from STR investments. Its institutional grade, proprietary rental platform analyzes over 18MM data points each month, ultimately allowing the Techvestor team to identify what, where, how, when, and if an investment should occur. The result is a streamlined operation that underwrites 100k+ properties monthly, has raised more than $37MM, and has 75+ properties in its portfolio.

The story of Techvestor begins with two techies at Apple and Facebook. 

Techvestor’s road to leading the STR market begins with two professionals who were independently investing in STRs and other real estate for their portfolio. Guler was a driven career professional at Apple, where as an Engineering Project Manager, she grew the company’s AirPods product line into a multibillion-dollar revenue stream. 

“I was fortunate to work for an exciting company like Apple and to have a job I cared about,” Guler remembers. “I also had a strong entrepreneurial streak, so my hobby was investing in single-family homes and redesigning them into Airbnb rental properties.”

Guler found STRs to be lucrative as well as satisfying, but there was a steep learning curve. “I learned so much by simply doing, and I quickly realized two things: there were significant opportunities for revenue, and most people either didn’t realize this or didn’t understand how to get into it.”

Guler decided to create a platform that would make it easier to locate the right property to buy and then take it from “nothing special” to “incredible.” She teamed up with Khafagi, who helped build the second-largest engineering organization at Facebook/Meta from 89 people to over 1,100. He also was a Forbes Business and Young Entrepreneur Council Member, who leads Techvestor’s talent, financial, and portfolio management infrastructure. 

“Our research showed that Techvestor was the right company for the times because 34% of people preferred short-term rentals, up from 10% in 2011,” says Khafagi. “That interest was only increasing because of COVID and remote work. Also, the number of short-term rental rooms worldwide is greater than the leading hotel chains combined. We are early to this asset class, and that meant Techvestor could define it for investors.”

The strategies and technology behind Techvestor were designed to create passive investment opportunities.

Guler says that the key to Techvestor’s success lies in two factors: its people and its software platform. The process of acquiring a home, designing and furnishing it is hard to do at scale, so she sat down with Khafagi and created a plan for how short-term rental properties are identified, managed, and can exit.

“We got really specific and designed a 16-point strategy for analyzing the potential of both a property and its location,” Khafagi states. “We included uniqueness, seasonality, tax benefits, diversification, and STR-friendly states as well as other crucial factors. All in all, we look at millions of data points and 250+ markets monthly.”

Guler and Khafagi also made Techvestor vertically integrated, with acquisition, interior design, property and revenue management, operations and more handled under the same roof. 

Techvestor’s software was designed to pinpoint the right properties to be added to the company’s portfolio. Khafagi explains that its algorithms mean they know what to buy, where to buy it, how to best finance it, how to operate it, if the property is in a sustainable market, and what realistic growth looks like.

“All that remained was setting up our terms and policies for passive investors,” he says. “They receive 100% of tax benefits, have zero liability for loans and lending, and enjoy instant diversification with over 70+ properties. During the first five years that we hold a property, they receive quarterly reporting and dividends, and we target a 7-12% cash on cash annually. After the projected hold period, we look to sell the portfolio. We sell properties based on revenue or value, whichever is higher.”

Guler adds that Techvestor also offers a little perk for investors: Owner Stays. “If you are an owner, we believe that you should stay like one,” she says. “As an investor, you can stay at any property, at any time, for 10-30% off normal rates. We appreciate our investors and want them to have fun at our properties around the United States.”

The results of Techvestor’s software and strategies have been impressive.

With over $37MM from and 75+ properties across 10+ markets, Techvestor is accomplishing the goals that Guler and Khafagi have set for it. The company has successfully exited eight times, with an average IRR of 42%. 

“We are beating our revenue projections 96% of the time, and we have 52% more revenue than our competitors across our portfolio,” Khafagi states. “We also have a 38% higher occupancy rate for our properties, so we are very optimistic about where Techvestor is taking the short-term rental industry.”

Their goal is for Techvestor to become the largest institutional STR operator in the world: a $1B aggregate fund with over 1500 properties for passive investors. 

Passive investors interested in real estate have a new asset class.

“Investments in short-term rentals are shaking up the real estate market and showing that there are still plenty of exciting opportunities for the wise investor,” says Guler. “If you are skeptical, then consider this: Techvestor is enjoying seven and eight figures in commitments and LOIs for its portfolio. The word is out, and as we have all seen time and again, people who are early to an asset class are the ones who normally benefit the most in the long term.”

Sief Khafagi
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