Mexico’s Casai and Brazil’s Nomah merge businesses aiming all of Latin America

The technology companies dedicated to short-term apartment rentals – the so-called short-stay rentals – the Mexican company Casai and the Brazilian Nomah announced the merger of their businesses.

Both are the largest companies in Latin America in the segment.

Combined, the new company will have 3,000 housing units on offer in Brazil and Mexico. The guest base will reach 200,000.

The merger includes a capital increase made by the current investors of the companies – Andreessen Horowitz, Monashees, and Loft Group. The amount was not disclosed.

WHAT NOMAH DOES

Loft, specializing in real estate market technology, acquired Nomah in 2020 and will have a stake in the combined company.

Administrator Thomaz Guz founded Nomah in São Paulo in 2016 after a stint as a private equity analyst at the Astra Investimentos fund and experiences at ADP and Air France.

Besides him, the administrator Fabio Bertini is also a co-founder.

The business arises from a feeling of the partners about the lack of options in the middle of the way between a conventional hotel and the ones offered in apps like Airbnb.

To do so, Nomah partners with real estate developers to manage residential buildings to transform them into accommodation with a hotel face – and an Airbnb price.

The money comes from fees charged to:

• developers for asset management;
• end customers for the full package of typical apartment bills (rent, condominium, IPTU, electricity, and internet).

For six years, Nomah worked with references in the development market, such as Even and Setin, and today is present in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Fortaleza.

WHERE CASAI IS PRESENT

Mexico’s Casai has taken a similar path in Mexico, founded in 2019 by Nico Barawid, an American with a background in BCG consulting, the M&A area of the renewables company SunEdison, and the banks Nova Credit and Beneficial State Bank, all in San Francisco, in Silicon Valley.

Today, Casai offers short-term stays in Mexico’s main tourist destinations and some Brazilian cities – São Paulo, Rio, Brasilia, and Florianópolis.

The investment in Mexico was a gateway to an ambition to grow fast throughout Latin America – the will behind the negotiations between the two companies.

“Hospitality is one of the biggest factors contributing to the region’s economic development. Over the past few years, more and more people have discovered the culture, cuisine, landscapes, and history of Latin America,” says Barawid.

“The merger is a giant step in the region’s hotel industry.”

WHAT THE PARTNERS PLAN

On the partners’ radar is an expansion into Colombia and Chile in the coming months.

At this first moment, both companies will keep their brands.

By the rules of the merger, Nico Barawid takes over as CEO of the new company.

Thomaz will be appointed president, responsible for integration, culture, people, strategy, public relations, and staffing of Nomah during the integration – a process of up to six months, say the partners of both companies.

Guz and Barawid plan to replicate the guest facial recognition technology created by Nomah in Casai’s systems.

In the opposite direction, Casai’s sales teams will assist Nomah in pricing apartments to serve new audiences, says Guz.

In addition, the new company will offer stock options to all employees.

“We want all employees to feel like business owners, to build a company that transforms the way people stay and invest in real estate. This is just the beginning,” says Guz.

With information from Exame

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