How we started

My name's Rupert Hunt, and I'm the founder of SpareRoom.

People often ask how I had the idea for SpareRoom. It's simple, like most founding stories of successful brands are really - I had a problem, one shared by lots of people, and I created a solution.

SpareRoom was born out of my struggle to find a place to live when I first moved to London in the UK. I figured there had to be a simpler, safer, less frustrating way to find roommates than the options on offer. I couldn't find anything, so I decided to build something. That something became SpareRoom.

I soon realised the problem wasn't just confined to London, or even the UK. After launching in the UK we expanded to the US and, via our sister sites, South and Central America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Since our launch we've helped millions of people all over the world find places to live and, more importantly, great people to live with. That includes me.

After a long term relationship ended, I found myself looking for roommates of my own. If I'm honest, it started as an experiment in using my own site, but I soon realised that living with the right people beats living alone! I've lived with 15 different people over the past 12 years, both in my London home and in New York.

We've also run hundreds of Speed Roommating events in London, New York, LA and other US cities, helping people make those all important face to face connections you just can't replicate online. I should know, I found three of my own roommates at them! Covid put paid to the events, but we recently started bringing them back - I think people crave real, face to face connection now more than ever before.

Since we started, SpareRoom has brought people together from all walks of life. Our users have made lifelong friends, travelled across the world to meet each other's families, started businesses together...and even got married!

So what's next?

We want to do even more to help you find people who make sharing amazing. That means inventing new ways to bring like-minded people together and leaving fewer things down to chance. And we'd love to make living with roommates a lifestyle that people aspire to - an upgrade from living alone, rather than the other way round.