BNP Paribas has launched an online marketplace for communal housing, hatched from its internal incubation unit IFS Alpha.
The service, dubbed ColivMe, is one of a number of pitches greenlighted by the bank as part of an internal innovation programme designed to tap ideas from inhouse staff.
It is targeted at an up-and-coming new real estate market - coliving - designed for itinerant young professionals, students and single dwellers in search of a community.
Halfway between conventional flat-sharing and a hotel, coliving offers flexibility in terms of rental period, a private living space together with communal areas, and associated services.
ColivMe acts as an online notice board for the exchange of information between communes with space to fill and people in search of a space.
ColivMe.com gives people access to more than 1,500 beds in coliving homes throughout France, from Bayonne to Montpelier, Paris, Massy-Palaiseau or Nancy. Applicants fill in their profile directly on ColivMe, which puts them in touch with the operator of the co-living offer in the town that they've selected.
Born from an initiative inspired by two BNP Paribas Real Estate employees, the bank set the pair up in its group incubator IFS Alpha at BivwAk!, where they developed the project for 6 months in start-up mode.