Nesterly
A better way to share a home. Intergenerational home-sharing that makes housing more affordable and life less lonely.
Nesterly is a home-sharing platform that helps people share a home with someone they can trust for stays of a month or longer. A homeowner with a spare room, often an older adult, is matched with a vetted renter, often a student or young professional, who pays affordable rent and can lend a hand around the house in exchange for an even lower rate. Nesterly handles the vetting, leases, payments, and support. The company came to us through our Reconstruct Challenge, where it won a Phase 1 grant, and we followed with a Phase 2 investment.
Why we backed them
Two problems sit side by side in most cities. Housing is increasingly unaffordable for younger people, and many older adults have more home than they need, along with rising costs and, too often, isolation. Nesterly solves both at once. It turns an empty room into income and companionship for the host, and into affordable, flexible housing for the guest.
This fits how we think about flourishing. Place is where life and community take shape, and belonging matters as much as shelter. Nesterly does not just lower the cost of a room. It builds relationships across generations, easing loneliness and helping people age in place while giving younger renters a stable, affordable home. Access and agency, dignity and belonging, all in one simple arrangement.
From the Reconstruct Challenge to our portfolio
Nesterly is another example of our innovation work paying off. Through the Reconstruct Challenge, we help founders test and prove ideas that expand access and strengthen communities. Nesterly won a Phase 1 grant to develop its model, proved it in the field, and earned a Phase 2 investment as it grew. That path, from grant to investment, is exactly what the Challenge is designed to create.
What Nesterly does
Rent easily: Nesterly handles vetting, leases, payments, and real human support at every step.
Rent safely: it screens for safety, compatibility, and how well two people will actually live together.
Rent with confidence: hosts and guests get to know each other before booking, with flexible arrangements from a month to a year or longer.
Nesterly operates across a growing set of regions and partners with cities and organizations that want to expand affordable housing and support older residents.
Why it matters to us
Nesterly turns the homes people already have into a source of affordability, income, and connection. It meets a real housing need while building the kind of intergenerational community that helps people flourish. Backing it, first through the Reconstruct Challenge and then as an investor, is one of the ways we put capital behind more affordable, more connected neighborhoods.
Our role: Reconstruct Challenge Phase 1 grant, then Phase 2 investment
Type: Housing technology (intergenerational home-sharing platform)
Focus: Matching homeowners with trusted renters for longer-term stays, often across generations