Back this summer, I was leaving New York City and desperately looking for a place to crash at minimum cost and maximum flexibility in Paris, so that I could start looking for my next gig.

At the same time, I was witnessing the "We Company" debacle unfold, and trying to ponder what they had missed so badly on nailing the unit economics of sharing spaces to work (WeWork) and live (WeLive).

I grew an interest in the emerging Coliving space and was learning to write VC memos thanks to the great MemoHub training that Clément (kudos to him for being a great teacher!) was building at the time.

That's why I wrote this little piece about Colonies, which at the time I found to be an interesting company ripe for scale. Given their €30m Series B and their €150m property financing partnership with private equity fund LBO France announced a week ago, it seems like I'm far from being the only one now.

Disclaimer: My view on Colonies and co-living unit economics in general isn't reflective of reality , and I'd love to discuss any counterpoints you'd like to make.

Need

Colonies provides a hybrid housing experience with private spaces similar to a studio apartment (with kitchen and bathroom amenities), coupled with shared areas thoughtfully designed for collaboration and community living (also known as Coliving spaces).

The primary target is students and young workers, for which Colonies simplifies and streamlines the painful and complex process of hunting for a flat, and crafts a more seamless and flexible tenant experience.

Must have pain points addressed:

• Increasingly expensive housing relative to income growth, especially in younger age groups
• Broken tenant experience, due to painful and inflexible administrative framework (3-year reglemented leases, unstandardized and undigitalized application processes)

Nice to have pain points addressed:

• Fighting younger age group and young professional isolation trend in big cities across Europe including Paris
• Addressing the lack of shared, higher-end amenities (gym, coworking spaces, cafés and bars, etc.) in larger residences/condo complexes in France

Market

For the French & European market, the need and product-market fit is more obvious. Community-based living and amenity-heavy buildings are rarer compared to other markets such as the United States.

Since Colonies is primarily appealing to your typical young worker or student, and only operates in Paris at the moment, let’s look at some relevant numbers:

• According to INSEE (french statistics bureau), there are 1.7m qualified workers in the greater Paris area, 11% of them under 30