Montreal’s Airbnb for professional office space, Breather, has raised $6 million in series A money and announced an expansion to San Francisco.
Breather calls its 24/7-accessible private spaces those in which “busy urbanites can work, meet and relax in personal oasis’ of peace and quiet.” Its smartphone app allows users in New York, San Francisco and Montreal to book rooms on the go.
RRE Ventures, who was an early investor in Vine and Buzzfeed, led the round. Also partaking was Vayner/RSE, Real Ventures, SOS Ventures and others. Thus far breather has risen $7.5 million to date.
Breather said it expanded from 3 to 12 locations in New York City in under six months, while the company is projecting 100 additional locations within the next year.
“Real estate is one of the most illiquid and opaque markets in the world, and when we started Breather we knew we had a crazy road ahead of us,” said CEO Julien Smith, CEO of Breather.
He added that is wasn’t surprising that the idea work out, “but that it worked so well so early.”
Breather said it currently attracts actors using the space for rehearsals, business people making calls and use the wifi, clothing designers using the space as pop up shop locations and meditation teachers/life coaches using the space for one-on-one sessions.
“We hear new stories every day about how our members find our spaces useful,” continued Smith.
The founder said he projects “exponential growth in Breather’s future.”
The San Francisco launch includes three locations in Powell, South Park, and Montgomery.
We spoke with one of the team’s founding members a few months ago, when Brandon Reti told us all about his exciting and high-flying career in adult, mobile content. Check out the three-part series here.