Kift

What Kift does

Kift was a community-led platform for dynamic communal living, founded circa 2019–2020 in San Francisco and operated by 1–10 employees. Its core offering organized shared living experiences — including short-term house stays, caravans, and intentional community gatherings — for individuals seeking alternatives to conventional housing and lifestyle norms. The service explicitly positioned itself not as a product to purchase but as a "circle" and "banner" granting permission to experiment with identity, equity, race, gender, disability, communication, and mindfulness through communal living.

The underlying technology stack is undisclosed in the available sources; the platform is described as a self-serve community coordination layer with no app, no API, and no documented integrations. Distribution was driven entirely by word-of-mouth and organic social media, particularly Instagram, where community members such as Sante (@imnotinyourrush) and Zoya (@zoyayaseka) maintained profiles. The revenue model is described as subscription-recurring for the community living service, but pricing was not publicly disclosed and no revenue figures are available. The customer base was a single persona segment — Alternative Lifestyle Seekers — with horizontal segmentation across use cases rather than enterprise accounts.

Kift operated for approximately three years before founder Colin O'Donnell announced the end of service and closure of the business in October 2023. At closure, the company reported thousands of member connections, hundreds of organized "side quests," several dozen houses and sites, and several caravan experiences. Following closure, community members spun out two successor initiatives: "Pops" (DIY short-stay houses led by Sante) and a DAO exploring cooperative ownership (led by Zoya and Matai). Colin O'Donnell's profile indicates he has since moved to co-found newtheory.ai.

Name

Kift

Website

https://kift.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kift was a San Francisco-based community-led platform (founded circa 2019) that organized dynamic communal living through short-term house stays, caravans, and intentional community experiences for individuals seeking alternative lifestyles. The service closed in October 2023 after approximately three years of operation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Community Living Service: Kift provided a platform for dynamic communal living experiences, including short-term house stays, caravans, and intentional community gatherings. The company operated for three years before announcing closure in October 2023.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Kift was a community-based service that facilitated dynamic communal living through shared houses, caravans, and intentional community gatherings, connecting individual members seeking alternative lifestyle experiences outside conventional norms. The service operated for roughly three years and announced its closure in October 2023, while related community projects (Pops and a cooperative ownership DAO) continued among former members.

Product overview

Kift was a single unified service for dynamic communal living, offering shared housing, caravans, and intentional community experiences. The service connected individuals seeking alternative lifestyles, facilitating thousands of connections across dozens of houses, sites, and caravans over its three-year operation. The company has since announced the end of service and closure of the business.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kift A community living service that facilitated dynamic communal living through shared housing arrangements, caravans, and intentional community experiences, enabling connections among individuals seeking alternative lifestyle arrangements outside conventional norms. The service operated for roughly three years before announcing its closure in October 2023.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• SanteminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2023Former Kift community member Sante is working on 'Pops' - a DIY version of a Kift house for shorter stays. The goal is to support magic found on caravans in that sweet spot of a week to a month, in beautiful locations with strong intention and cool crew.
• Zoya and Matai (DAO Initiative)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2023Former Kift community members Zoya and Matai are working on the slow cooked bookend to communal living: putting down roots in a full-time community. Starting with the DAO and exploring cooperative ownership, resource sharing, and governance.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Common: Common is a coliving operator offering shared, furnished apartments with community programming across major U.S. cities. Most directly comparable to Kift as a managed, community-oriented shared-living platform serving individuals seeking flexible, intentional living arrangements.
• Bungalow: Bungalow provides co-living rental homes with shared common areas across the U.S., marketed to young professionals seeking community-driven living. Comparable model of subscription/fee-based access to managed shared housing.
• Roam: Roam operates co-living and co-working locations across multiple countries, marketed toward location-independent professionals seeking intentional community. Closely aligned with Kift's emphasis on international, mobile, community-driven living experiences.
• Outsite: Outsite is a coliving network with houses and apartments across Europe and beyond, designed for remote workers seeking community and flexible stays. Highly comparable subscription-based, short-to-medium-term communal living model.
• Ollie: Ollie operates a tech-enabled co-living platform with buildings in several U.S. markets, combining flexible leases with community programming. Comparable to Kift in offering managed communal living as a service rather than long-term leases.
• Quarters: Quarters provides co-living apartments in U.S. and European cities with shared community spaces and curated resident events. Directly comparable operating model to Kift: subscription-based access to furnished shared housing with a strong community emphasis.

Broad incumbents

• Selina: Selina is a global hospitality brand operating hostels, co-living, and coworking destinations targeted at remote workers and digital nomads. Comparable community-driven, lifestyle-oriented accommodations model with mobile/intentional living programming.
• WeLive (WeWork): WeLive was WeWork's residential coliving concept offering flexible, design-forward shared apartments in New York and elsewhere. Comparable as an incumbent-scale experiment in communal living-as-a-service, though with much broader resources than Kift.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kibbo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kift