Marketplace offers seamless online booking options for medium- to long-term stays.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, December 14, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) today announced that Virginia Venture Partners (VVP), its equity investment program, has invested in FourStay Inc. dba 4stay. McLean, Va.-based 4stay is a SaaS-enabled marketplace for student and intern housing.

Education and internship opportunities present themselves far and wide, and oftentimes students are forced to scramble to find available housing and pursue these experiences in a new city. It can be hard and overwhelming to find a safe and secure place to live at a reasonable cost. Dorms can fill up quickly and are often expensive, apartment managers want to lock in a one-year lease, classified ad web pages aren’t secure, and off-campus roommate matching can be a disaster. 4stay alleviates this stress by providing an online resource for students and interns looking for off-campus housing. As a marketplace, students, schools, interns, and workplaces can find hosts in multiple cities with rooms available, transforming the host-tenant matchmaking process and creating a positive economic ecosystem in student housing rentals.

“When I came to the United States to pursue my education, one of my biggest challenges was finding long-term housing,” said Faridun Nazarov, CEO and Co-founder of 4stay. “After realizing this struggle is not uncommon, we developed an online marketplace to help as many students as possible. VVP’s investment is accelerating our growth, which in turn is helping us reach and reduce the stress on more students and interns and make it easier for them to secure a place to live.”

With more than 200,000 rooms for rent, off-campus housing and homestay providers on the platform make it easy for residents to interact with potential hosts and roommates, cutting the time it takes to search for apartments from a few hours to a few minutes. ​​Various off-campus options are available according to different budgets, distance to campus, and stay preferences, meaning students have a wide variety to choose from and can focus their attention on school and workforce experiences.

“4stay is dedicated to helping students and interns pursue opportunities in new and exciting places minus the obstacle of finding a place to live,” said Aurelia Flores, Investment Director at VIPC’s Virginia Venture Partners. “Their convenient, all-in-one booking site platform has gained popularity and is now available in cities across the U.S. and abroad. VVP is eager to see even greater expansion so that more people can take advantage of this innovative ecosystem.”

VIPC’s investment in 4stay draws upon funds made available through the U.S. Treasury Department State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Program.

About 4stay
4stay is a SaaS-enabled online marketplace that provides comprehensive off-campus housing solutions for more than 150 institutions. Our platform offers a range of services, including our marketplace, off-campus housing white label solutions, and accommodation management platform. To learn more visit: www.4stay.com

About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
VIPC: Connecting innovators with opportunities. As the nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), VIPC is the commercialization and seed stage economic development driver in the Commonwealth that leads funding, infrastructure, and policy initiatives to support Virginia's innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, and market development strategies. VIPC collaborates with local, regional, state, and federal partners to support the expansion and diversification of Virginia’s economy.

Programs include: Virginia Venture Partners (VVP) | VVP Fund of Funds (SSBCI) | Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) | Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) | Petersburg Founders Fund (PFF) | Smart Communities | The Virginia Smart Community Testbed | The Virginia Unmanned Systems Center | Virginia Advanced Air Mobility Alliance (VAAMA) | The Public Safety Innovation Center | Entrepreneurial Ecosystems | Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) | Federal Funding Assistance Program (FFAP) for SBIR & STTR | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. For more information, please visit www.VirginiaIPC.org. Follow VIPC on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.

About Virginia Venture Partners (VVP)
Virginia Venture Partners is the equity investment program of VIPC that makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology, clean energy, and life science companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating a significant economic return for entrepreneurs, co-investors, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Since its inception in 2005, Virginia Venture Partners has deployed $51.7 million in capital across more than 305 portfolio companies, including 17 companies in designated Opportunity Zones. Virginia Venture Partners’ investment decisions are guided by the Virginia Venture Partners Investment Advisory Board (IAB). This independent, third-party panel has drawn from the expertise of leading regional entrepreneurs, angel, and strategic investors, and venture capital firms such as New Enterprise Associates, Grotech Ventures, Harbert Venture Partners HIG Ventures, Edison Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Intersouth Partners, SJF Ventures, Carilion Health Systems, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, and Alpha Natural Resources. For more information, please visit the VVP pages from www.VirginiaIPC.org.

Angela Costello, Vice President of Communications
Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
angela.costello@VirginiaIPC.org
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.