The round was led by London-based VC Pi Labs, with participation from Y Combinator, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim and Snapdocs founder Aaron King, and other prominent angel investors.

Conduit streamlines property management by automating communication and workflows across the rental lifecycle – from leasing inquiries and tenant onboarding to maintenance requests and renewals. Requiring minimal human oversight, the platform enhances efficiency and tenant satisfaction, directly boosting property managers’ ratings on platforms like Airbnb, where Conduit is an official software partner. To date, over 20,000 properties globally rely on Conduit’s AI technology.

The startup already serves a diverse roster of short-term rental operators, including Pass the Keys (UK), Moxxi (Australia), Arbio Group (Germany, 500+ properties), Silkhuas (Dubai), and Flex Living (London).

Founded in 2024 as HostAI, Conduit is the brainchild of short-term rental expert Cole Rubin and ex-Google engineer Punn Kam. Cole previously managed his own $19 million residential portfolio, comprising 200 sites across Airbnb and Booking.com, prior to exiting that venture via a private sale. His co-founder Punn, is a former Google Ads and AI infrastructure specialist, brings technical expertise honed with clients like Expedia and Booking.com.

Cole’s firsthand experience of managing a large volume of rental properties laid bare the operational inefficiencies in manual tenant communication and property management. Conduit automatically replies to messages and assists customers, via the booking platform, from enquiry to check out, with minimal manual oversight required.  

The Seed round will be used to invest into product development and to accelerate its growth into new markets. With a rapidly growing client base and a shift in focus towards long-term rentals, Conduit aims to become the leading AI platform for full-cycle tenant engagement.

Cole Rubin, CEO of Conduit, commented: “The residential rental market is becoming increasingly professionalised and management companies understand that their success is dependent on customer ratings. Having previously been in this world for years across the major platforms, the pain point was obvious. It was becoming impossible to scale whilst maintaining a uniformed, high-quality service with such high guest turnover and the sheer volume of communications. With Conduit, almost all customer communications can be automated, which is invaluable to any host or manager with more than just a handful of listings. Many of our clients today manage thousands of properties and the integration via the booking platforms has been seamless, often directly translating to improved customer reviews.”

Faisal Butt, Managing Partner and Founder of Pi Labs, said: “Conduit is a game changer in the hospitality and residential industry, evidenced by how quickly they have penetrated numerous major markets. Cole and Punn are AI native founders that have an in-depth understanding of how AI can positively transform the rental sector, which is growing globally given the large number of companies entering this space. We believe Conduit could become the most widely used application to manage residential real estate at scale, since the advanced AI algorithms embedded into the platform offers clients both cost saving benefits and the ability to consistently ensure a better customer experience.”

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