This publication features 42workspace member Citylife – now known as Citylifer. We celebrate the success story of Citylife, and the growth they have achieved in our coworking space.
“Be Your Brand – Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.” – Simon Sinek
Citylife is a fast-growing, ambitious real estate start-up, founded in October 2018. Citylife started with only 1 apartment and a team of 2. Moving on to 2021, the company has accumulated more than 50 properties and proudly hosts a community of more than 130 international members from 33 different countries. The success of Citylife lies in the co-living concept, which addresses the living needs of young people. They provide freedom and flexibility to young generations, by simultaneously offering luxurious apartments in the heart of the city. This gives members the opportunity to engage with a community of like-minded people.
Citylife encompasses the following mission statement: “We empower our members to create genuine happy moments together by offering a hassle-free shared living experience along with like-minded people.”
Citylife sets high standards. Their vision is to allow young people to live life to the fullest together, regardless of where they are located. The firm aims to provide the needed comfort and freedom to everyone Citylife has the chance to engage with; members, investors, and more. The current ambition is to penetrate new markets within Europe, in order to put Citylife on the European map, as the upcoming co-living brand.
Ambition: 5,000 rooms (2025) → 25,000 rooms (2030) → 100,000 (vision)
Despite operating in the real estate industry, Citylife is classified as a prop-tech startup because of its embedded use of technology. Citylife takes advantage of the digital solutions available right now. They use for example SalesForce, which is an incremental part of Citylife’s daily operations. The service is mostly used for evaluating the usefulness of apartments and how to properly value them. Additionally, the startup uses a variety of technological solution which are embedded in their operations to maximize efficiency. “ Tech helps us to optimize processes.” – Tjeerd Hoes. The startup uses SalesForce for the following:
- Purchase invoices
- All data at one place for escalations, deadlines, overview sales, and sales-phase
- Overview of properties
- Integrated e-mail system
- Member issues (repairs example)
- Bidding process (Bidding process. overview and report)
- Automated financial projections
- Administration
- Rental contract
- Automation contracts
Evidently, SalesForce is at the core of its operations. The startup has plans to start using artifical intelligence to furthur increase its efficiency. Particularly, in the purchasing phase. They would like to automate property evaluation to get an accurate estimation of real estate value.
(Source: 42workspace – Success Stories CityLife)
Citylife started their journey at 42workspace, in 2018 with a private office of two desks. Shortly after they had two offices on the second floor with a total of 6 desks. The firm quickly grew and was in need of a bigger office, in August of 2020 they moved to 107 and expanded to 9 desks. Six months later in February of 2021, they moved back up to the second floor, reconstructed three offices, and moved to the new office 210, with 14 desks. A real success story, of how startups can quickly and flexibly grow in 42workspace.
(Source: 42workspace – Success Stories CityLife)
What is unique about Citylife, is Tjeerd Hoes (the founder), graduated from Erasmus University and identified an opportunity in the market. Shortly after graduating, he met Martijn Don (founding member of 42workspace), they formed a synergy and mutually developed the concept to reality. After Martijn realized the potential of this venture he got Ad van Kemenade onboard as an investor (also a founding member of 42workspace). A real example of how 42 community members come together to create value.
Tjeerd favorite memory at 42 is: “My best memory here at 42 was a rooftop party, with over 50 people. All of a sudden it started to storm, we all were behind the bar and covered in umbrellas. It was fascinating to see the storm go over Rotterdam’s skyline while Esther O’Callaghan (community member) from Tech Advocates as the resident DJ kept playing and after 20 minutes the party continued even better since the storm was gone.”
Find out about other community members – read Crunch Analytics story.
