Startup · $16.5m raised · Property and construction
Invite-only subletting club for London homes
New York City, OS
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Kiki raised.
| Investor | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| Blackbird Ventures | Seed · Seed | $14,000,000 |
Investors whose own portfolio pages list Kiki, even though we haven't found any coverage of the round yet.
| Investor | Listed on |
|---|---|
| Beachhead Venture Capital | its portfolio page ↗ |
Companies Kiki acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Stories naming Kiki. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Blackbird has locked in a second billion-dollar fund — its sixth, slightly bigger than the last — bringing in new institutional backers, and the article recalls portfolio wins, writedowns and failures.
Leaked details from Blackbird's investor day showcase Airwallex and Canva as standout performers, record valuation cuts for Culture Amp and SafetyCulture, and detail Kiki's New York shutdown and settlement.
Subletting firm Kiki settled with New York's enforcement office for US$152,319 over unregistered listings before leaving for London; the piece also recalls its US$6 million seed raise and Blackbird's early backing.
Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio·Startup Daily·Women's Agenda
Subletting app Kiki relaunches its original service months after a controversial switch to a members-only women's club in New York, with its main backer Blackbird publicly endorsing the move.
Kiki co-founder Toby Thomas-Smith apologised for the startup's girls-only club announcement in New York, while Blackbird general partner Samantha Wong defended the firm's earlier investment and addressed venture capital's gender imbalance.
Blackbird partner Samantha Wong responds to recent press about Kiki, explaining why the firm backed the subletting marketplace, how it supports founders through pivots, and its work on funding gender diversity.
Commentary questioning Kiki's pivot from a sublet marketplace to a New York women's club, revisiting its 2023 seed raise and scrutinising Blackbird's investment judgment, governance and record on female founders.
Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily
Blackbird's annual review counts $229 million deployed in 2024 across 41 companies, $1.15 billion invested over five years, and about $1.14 billion returned to LPs through secondaries, Canva's purchase of Leonardo.ai, and Hivery's collapse.
Blackbird partners explain why the fund led a seed round in Kiki, a subletting marketplace born in New Zealand, profitable during its Sydney phase, now launching in New York.