corporate-housing
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James Chua and the business of staying a little longer
From trading Marvel comics at seven to building MetroResidences, James Chua has made a career of finding overlooked customers. His accommodation business grew around people who need a home for a few months - and somebody else to handle the chores.
Locale put a kitchen in the hotel. Then it changed the business.
Locale made apartment living bookable by the night. Its more revealing invention was behind the door: a shift from carrying leases to managing properties for fees, followed by a sale to Mint House.
Zeus Living made moving easy. Staying solvent was harder.
A furnished home, working Wi-Fi, and permission to change your plans. Zeus Living sold a persuasive answer to the modern housing problem - then discovered the cost of keeping that promise.
Alex Chatzieleftheriou
He spent five years living out of hotel rooms as a consultant. Then he built the company that lets you move into a city with nothing but a suitcase.
MetroResidences
MetroResidences is a Singapore-founded proptech platform that curates furnished serviced apartments and monthly rentals for business travellers, expats and urban professionals across Asia Pacific. Launched in 2014 by James Chua and Lester Kang, it matches corporate tenants needing month-plus stays with quality apartments and layers on hotel-style services like housekeeping, maintenance and front-desk support. Backed by Rakuten Capital and 500 Durians, the company positions itself as a professionally managed alternative to both traditional serviced-residence operators and Airbnb-style listings.
Rukita
Rukita is an Indonesian proptech company that manages and rents out furnished co-living spaces, apartments, and boarding houses (kost) under a single brand and app. Founded in 2019 in Jakarta, it aims to raise the quality standard of rental housing for Indonesia's young urban professionals by combining standardized, serviced residences with a technology platform that handles booking, monthly payments, maintenance requests, and community events. Rukita operates directly managed units and a wider marketplace of partner properties, and has expanded its ecosystem into property marketing (RuOption) and financing (RuFinance).
Travelio
Travelio is an Indonesian property-technology company that runs an online marketplace and end-to-end management platform for apartments, houses and villas. Founded in Jakarta in 2015, it lets landlords hand over units for professional management while giving tenants furnished, standardized homes they can book and pay for daily, monthly or annually - including a rare month-by-month payment option in a market that traditionally demands a full year up front. Often called 'Indonesia's Airbnb,' Travelio manages roughly 15,000 exclusive properties across a dozen cities and is expanding into rent-to-own housing.
Blueground
Blueground is a global proptech operator of furnished, move-in-ready apartments rented on flexible terms for stays of 30 days or more. Founded in 2013 by Alex Chatzieleftheriou after years of consultant hotel-living, the company leases, designs and manages thousands of apartments across dozens of cities, pairs them with proprietary technology and a guest app, and serves both relocating individuals and thousands of corporate clients. Through acquisitions, franchising and a partner network, Blueground has expanded from an Athens startup into one of the largest curated networks of flexible furnished homes worldwide.