Remote Year, the pioneering work-travel platform founded in 2014 for professionals who want to live and work in different cities around the world, announced today a $5 million investment round was led by Lightbank, a venture capital firm based out of Chicago. Existing Remote Year investor Highland Capital Partners participated in the round. This new capital will enable the organization to invest in growing participation in work-travel programs globally, and to explore new products and sales channels.
Co-founder and CEO, Greg Caplan believes that “We have spent the last four years building our global infrastructure and playbook. We now have the pieces in place to really grow our community. We believe that one day, our global community of curious and driven professionals will grow to over one million people.”
“Remote Year has unequivocally defined the work-travel space. Their impressive growth and leadership over the last four years has demonstrated the long-term viability of this market,” said Mike Mauceri, Chief Financial Officer of Lightbank. “We’re excited to partner with them to further their growth, and we’re equally excited to support their vision of shaping the future of work and the global community.”
Remote Year offers 4, 6, and 12 month work-travel programs to professionals that can work remotely. Each community travels together for the entirety of the program, spending a month in each city around the world (Latin America, Europe & Africa, and Asia). For a down payment + $2,000 per month, the program includes travel, accommodations, workspace, curated experiences, full-time staff, and a number of other support services.
Over the last four years, having hosted over 2,500 “Remotes” on their work-travel programs, Remote Year has truly become the global expert in how to work remotely while traveling abroad. They invest in building a professionally focused community to support each other’s success throughout the experience. Also, to ensure productivity, each program’s transit and local experiences are built to respect the work week and connectivity is always a priority, offering SIM cards and strong wifi in each city. They even have Employer Success specialists that support interested participants in getting employer approval to join a program.
Remote Year believes that by enabling this type of experience, it will have a three-pronged benefit for individuals, their companies, and society at large. For individuals, this experience is transformational in nature, allowing each participant (“Remote”) to step outside their comfort zone and push their limits both personally and professionally with a community that will stay connected for life. For companies, Remote Year presents as a great step toward leveraging a distributed workforce to meaningfully improve recruitment and retention of top talent. And for society, Remote Year believes that programs like theirs will help to create a more peaceful and productive world by fostering genuine human connections across diverse cultures and people.
Since the inaugural Remote Year program in 2015, the company has placed over 2,500 traveling professionals in more than 40 countries on five continents.
About Remote Year
Remote Year brings together communities of creative, driven professionals to live abroad while working remotely. They offer 4, 6 and 12 month programs, where participants or “Remotes” live and work in a new city each month for the duration of the program. They operate in 12 ciites across the world, including Mexico City, Medellin, Lima, Santiago, Split, Lisbon, Valencia, Cape Town, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Chiang Mai and Kyoto.
About Lightbank
Lightbank is a top performing early stage venture capital firm headquartered in Chicago. The firm was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneurs Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell (Tempus, Uptake). Lightbank has invested in more than 120 early stage technology companies across the United States.
