4 months after coming into the UK market, controversial short-term subletting startup Kiki is following a well-recognized sample because it finds its footing in London.
Guide processes powered by Instagram, restricted income, events, and rising prices (together with visa sponsorship for newly employed workers) are already defining Kiki’s native operations. In the meantime, the startup is publicly projecting confidence whereas privately acknowledging consumer confusion and slower winter development.
Kiki entered the London market in July 2025, shortly after exiting New York. Its US operations had turn out to be more and more untenable due to regulatory concerns. This week, these considerations had been formalised.
New York Metropolis’s Workplace of Particular Enforcement (OSE) confirmed that Kiki had paid a US$152,300 fine for failing to comply with Local Law 18, which governs short-term rental platforms within the metropolis. The regulation requires hosts to register and platforms to confirm listings, submit experiences, and take away noncompliant properties.
This regulation was not unknown to the startup earlier than transferring to the US.
In Kiki’s 2023 investor pitch to Blackbird, the startup had flagged potential pushback. When Blackbird asked what Kiki would do if it received a cease and desist, the startup mentioned this may be a “pioneering second” and that it will “ignore the federal government” or “construct a lobbying crew”.
Now in London, Kiki seems to be extra cautious. Particulars concerning its listings are now not publicly browsable. All listings are gated behind an invite-only system requiring a verified Instagram deal with and a referral from an current member. The web site declares a “no weirdo coverage” and explicitly discourages new customers from making an attempt to affix with out vetting.
“We do all the things on Instagram,” the web site reads. The principle @kikiclub_london account can also be personal — a transfer that echoes its New York account and got here after multiple reports from this publication on the startup’s NYC actions, monetary mannequin, and workers exits – together with its co-founders.
Since launching within the UK, Kiki has leaned into acquainted occasions and social rituals: a launch celebration adopted by a ‘100 matches’ secret celebration in October, and ongoing “espresso catch-ups” with would-be customers.
“Simply made this colleague [sic] of our first 40 coffees assembly you everywhere in the final week,” a July 10 Instagram put up said.
The startup additionally not too long ago ran a member giveaway for a visit to Spain and provided free skilled home cleansing for customers for the month of September.
Income lags the hype, once more
Regardless of the exercise, the enterprise aspect has been sluggish. Based on an October investor replace, Kiki was celebrating London customers rising to 170 matches between July and October, in addition to 201 listings added.
Nonetheless, on the finish of October, the enterprise income generated in its first three-and-a-half months in London was simply $18,700. It additionally said that $187,000 GMV had been earned by hosts, suggesting Kiki takes roughly a ten% reduce of all short-term sublets.
Nonetheless, founder Toby Thomas-Smith said in the identical non-cap investor replace that Kiki was by some means “formally midway to profitability”.
“We’re not making an attempt to be worthwhile or reduce prices proper now, however it was superior to see. As soon as our engineer and subsequent generalist be part of the payroll this can clearly shift a bit,” Thomas-Smith mentioned.
It’s unclear how that is being quantified. Nonetheless, it’s value noting that Thomas-Smith, in an earlier report overlaying February and March, mentioned: “I’ve a separate replace I ship to our precise buyers, and this can be a top-level model of that”.
Regardless, the corporate is already fighting London seasonality.
“The winter is already hitting us like a ton of bricks simply as we knew it will for November, December, and January,” Thomas-Smith wrote within the October 2025 replace.
“On common we see about 8 to 10 instances extra development in summer time than in winter. For instance, we aren’t anticipating to recover from 25 matches per week throughout winter however know we are able to attain 180 to 200 matches per week on the peak of summer time subsequent 12 months.”
These monetary blended messages echo Kiki’s sample in New York. An investor report from earlier this 12 months revealed that Kiki had generated simply US$76,000 in income since ‘relaunching’ the subletting business in New York 10 months prior.
Kiki’s investor experiences all through 2024 additionally presented inconsistent financial figures, notably concerning income, burn charge, and the corporate’s use of “lease saved” as a efficiency metric.
In the meantime, an investor report from November 2024 confirmed that Kiki had US$3,823,219 within the financial institution simply 18 months after elevating US$6 million forward of its transfer to New York.
A ‘hackathon’ hiring course of
In October, Kiki introduced it had employed its first full-time engineer — providing UK visa sponsorship for the position — and flagged plans for a second rent in a generalist operations place, additionally providing sponsorship.
Each hires up to now are from New Zealand.
Investor notes revealed that the engineer’s six-week hiring course of included a “3 day hackathon the place we known as for 10 hours straight every day to simulate constructing collectively,” Thomas-Smith mentioned.
“Tems and I even did in a single day shifts from 7 pm to 7 am to match NZ time.”
The consequence was a digital guestbook characteristic, “so listings can lastly have opinions”.
“For anybody hiring an engineer remotely I can’t suggest this strategy sufficient,” he added.
As of October, Kiki was providing whole compensation packages of £160,000–£170,000 for the engineer position and £120,000 for the still-open generalist position.
Each embody important fairness elements and a base wage of £60,000–£70,000 for the engineer and £40,000 for the generalist.
Further perks included visa sponsorship, relocation assist, two free meals on weekdays, fitness center memberships, and short-term lodging inside a Kiki-listed property.
In each instances, the corporate emphasised the potential worth of early-stage fairness, referencing the multimillion-pound windfalls of early Airbnb and Uber hires.
Lack of transparency
In distinction to its early NYC rollout, the place listings had been publicly displayed with names, photographs, and house particulars, Kiki’s London mannequin is much extra opaque. Listings are solely viewable to these granted entry to a personal Instagram loop.
The corporate’s inner figures present 85% of its London customers are girls, and 70% of listings are for single rooms in shared properties. It’s unclear how or if formal safety or security checks are carried out for the individuals in these shared properties, together with different flatmates.
Whereas espresso meet-ups, group chats, and a “no weirdos coverage” for these itemizing a room are referenced in public comms, no formal screening framework from its three-person crew has been disclosed, elevating questions in regards to the robustness of the onboarding course of.
Kiki’s personal investor updates have additionally flagged considerations about consumer confusion and platform readability.
Within the August replace, the crew admitted “5+ individuals a day ask ‘how does it work’,” and that even individuals who know the founders are nonetheless not utilizing the product.
The secretive, still-largely guide mannequin is pitched as exclusivity, however the heavy reliance on social media and word-of-mouth — with a restricted viewable product — provides to the murkiness round how the enterprise capabilities day-to-day, what accountability mechanisms exist and why, seven years and hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in, it’s nonetheless but to have a contemporary tech stack.
“It’s completely different from regular B2B SaaS startups,” Thomas-Smith mentioned within the July replace.
“We’re constructing one thing that’s nearer to how a rustic operates than an organization, as we’re constructing our personal complete financial system with its personal legal guidelines and norms.”
Town of New York certainly didn’t agree. It is going to be fascinating to see how this now performs out with London’s personal short-term rental legal guidelines.
We contacted Kiki for remark however didn’t obtain a response.
- This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You may read the original here.
