GCO Ventures launches Vivara, a guaranteed rental start-up

"Vilara, the second start-up created by GCO Ventures, GCO's corporate venturing division, offers small landlords the best tenant profiles, as well as extensive services to ensure peace of mind for both owners and tenants."

GCO Ventures , GCO's corporate venturing vehicle, has launched its second venture: Vivara, a start-up focused on offering the safe and guaranteed rental of a home for both the owner and the tenant. In this way, GCO Ventures contributes to the long-term growth of GCO by identifying, building and launching new businesses that answer the needs of society, in this case in the home area.

Vivara was created with the aim of ensuring the peace of mind of small landlords, providing them with solvent and trustworthy tenants, as well as providing quality homes to tenants. In this regard, the start-up guarantees landlords guaranteed and timely payment of the rent and maintenance of the property, through comprehensive tenant management, as well as resolving all incidents and repairs; Vivara also offers coverage for non-payment of rent, vandalism and legal coverage for evictions. Similarly, in the event of termination by the tenant or at the maturity of the contract, Vivara is responsible for finding a new tenant.

These facilities are set within a context in which rental default is a growing concern, a fact confirmed at national level, since 13.2% of the population has suffered delays in payments (mortgage or rent, utility accounts, purchases in instalments), according to the Living Conditions Survey (INE).

In recent years, the rental market has grown considerably in Spain compared to home ownership. Thus, the number of Spanish households living under the leasing scheme increased by 19.25% between 2011 and 2021, to 16.5%, according to data from the last housing census published by the National Statistics Institute (INE). In the last 20 years, the rental market has grown by 41%.

To develop the project, Vivara has recruited Juan Carlos Álvarez, an expert in the management and marketing of real estate assets, who has a track record of more than 30 years in the real estate sector.

In the words of María José Álvarez, CEO of GCO Ventures, “we are fully immersed in the creation and development of projects that, like Vivara, are aligned with GCO's strategic priorities to respond to the new trends and needs of society, complying with the purpose of protecting and accompanying people in all stages of their lives to give them peace of mind and trust”.

Juan Carlos Álvarez, CEO of Vivara, commented that “at Vivara we want your rental experience to be as easy and comfortable as possible. We are proud to launch this project with GCO Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of a group at the stature of GCO”.

The creation of GCO Ventures

Vivara is the second venture built by GCO Ventures, an entity created by GCO last May to build, invest and/or accompany entrepreneurs with plans for growth.

The GCO Ventures projects are selected through two areas of specialisation. The first is the venture building, in which the company creates, launches and scales start-ups. The second is investment, through two possible ways: Direct funding to start-ups, or investment in venture capital funds aligned with the strategy of GCO Ventures.