Venture-Funded Startups Recovering Rapidly While Staying Remote

According to new data from Kruze Consulting, the startup space is in full rebound mode as spending on travel skyrockets while rent expenses lag

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Kruze Consulting

Nov 03, 2021, 08:34 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kruze Consulting, a leading CFO consulting company for startups, today released new data on travel, salary and rent expenses from 450+ venture-funded startups. The data indicates that the post-COVID economic recovery is in full swing amongst startups. Travel spending on airlines, hotels and Airbnbs has reached or surpassed pre pandemic levels - with Airbnb spending up 500% and flights up nearly 1000% since the April 2020 lows.

Kruze Consulting - Startup Travel & Expense

"We are seeing startups reopening and chasing growth again, albeit in new and interesting ways. Travel spend is surging and we're seeing many decentralized teams gathering for week-long working sessions at Airbnbs around the country," said Healy Jones, VP at Kruze Consulting. "Other traditional expenses like office spend haven't followed suit though, which indicates that remote work is here to stay."

Other expenses like rideshare are recovering, but they're not yet back to pre pandemic levels. In January of 2020 the average startup in the 450+ sample was spending an average of $450 a month on rideshare. For Uber, that number recovered to pre-pandemic levels this summer, indicating that more employees are travelling to and from offices, meetings, etc. Additionally, startups are growing increasingly remote with only 60% of startups paying for rent - down from 86% in Q4 2019. The average quarterly cost of rent has declined from $32,000 in Q4 2019 to $21,000 in Q2 or 2020, indicating that even startups that maintain office space are not increasing their footprint.

The pandemic has permanently shifted the ways that startups conduct business. While some line items will certainly recover, it's clear that the shift to remote work is here to stay and startups are grappling with how to best leverage their spending to accommodate the new, remote workforce. While we do expect a slow grind back towards normalization in these trends, the amount startups are spending on Airbnb and travel, while simultaneously reducing rent expenses, indicates a significant shift in the way startups are deciding to operate.

About Kruze Consulting
Kruze provides Startup CFO Consulting to over 550+ startups in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York, and other major startup hubs. To date, Kruze's clients have raised over $5.5 billion in venture capital and are market leading Saas, software, eCommerce, eHealth and FinTech startups. Founded in 2012 by Vanessa Kruze, a big four alum, startup controller and CPA, the firm handles all things accounting, tax, finance, & HR. Everything from interim CFO Consulting, financial modeling, startup tax returns, venture debt consulting, 409A valuations, bookkeeping, AR/AP, and Seed/Series A/B Fundraising Preparation can be seamlessly handled by the professionals at Kruze. Visit https://kruzeconsulting.com/ to learn more.

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SOURCE Kruze Consulting